Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Before entering a discussion of alternative strategies, I will provide
a succinct summary of the results. Economic evidence suggests that it
would be relatively inexpensive to slow climate change if nations ad-
opted effi cient control strategies in a timely and near-universal fashion.
The necessary steps—which involve rapidly developing new technolo-
gies and raising the price of carbon emissions as an incentive to reduce
emissions—rely on economic mechanisms that have worked effectively
around the world for many years. But tried and true are not necessarily
popular and achievable. Indeed, these policies have met fi erce resis-
tance, as we will see in Part V.
Most of Part III discusses mitigation strategies. It explores the tech-
niques, the necessity of high participation, estimates of cost of mitiga-
tion, and the role of new technologies. But before turning to mitigation
proper, I devote this chapter to the siren song of relying solely on adap-
tation or geoengineering. These two polar approaches look very at-
tractive from a distance; they are alluring because they appear to be
the low-cost way of attaining our environmental goals. In reality, they
may soften the blows, but they cannot completely offset the damaging
impacts of carbon accumulation and climate change. They may be
part of a strategy of risk management, but even the best geoengineer-
ing and adaptation will still leave signifi cant and unacceptable risks to
the planet.
ADAPTATION: LEARNING TO LIVE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE
If climate models are correct in their projections, the world will
change dramatically over the coming century and beyond. We have
seen many of the important impacts in earlier chapters: rising seas,
ocean acidifi cation, melting ice sheets, more intense storms, changing
agricultural zones, and ecological distress. Some people think we should
learn to live with these changes rather than take expensive steps to pre-
vent them. In other words, they propose that we primarily adapt to
rather than prevent global climate change.
The term “adaptation” refers to adjustments that can avert or reduce
the damaging impacts of climate change on human and other living sys-
tems. For example, farmers can change their crops and planting dates,
