Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2.
A spectrum of systems, from managed to unmanageable.
Extensively
Managed Systems
Partially Managed
Systems
Unmanageable
Systems
Most economic sectors:
Manufacturing
Health care
Most human activities:
Sleeping
Surfi ng the Internet
Vulnerable economic
sectors:
Hurricanes
Sea-level rise
Wildlife
Ocean acidifi cation
Agriculture
Forestry
Nonmarket systems:
Beaches and coastal
ecosystems
Wildfi res
Why is the distinction between managed and unmanaged systems
so important for our topic? This distinction helps us identify those areas
where climate change is of greatest concern by contrast with those ar-
eas where humans may be able to adapt to climate change.
Table 2 lists major areas, dividing them into extensively managed,
economy falls into the extensively managed area and is likely to ex-
perience relatively little direct impact from climate change. At the
other end of the spectrum are natural systems that are unmanaged or
unmanageable with current technologies. One theme of this topic is
that major concerns stem from unmanaged sectors, while the managed
sectors pose limited risks as long as societies use sensible adaptation
strategies.
WEATHER VERSUS CLIMATE
Before discussing the impacts in different sectors, I need to issue
one important warning about impacts analysis. Climate impacts need
to be distinguished from the effects of weather. Recall that climate is
the statistical mean and variability of temperature, precipitation, and
other variables over a period of decades or more. Weather is the actual
realization of the climatic process for a short period of time, for a partic-
ular day or year.
