Climate Change: Intro to Mitigation and Adaptation
Responses to the threats posed by climate change can be roughly divided into migitation (efforts to minimize future effects) and adaptation (coping with changes, including future ones).
Personally, I think we wasted so much time wallowing ostrich-like in the "Age of Abundance" at the end of the 20th century that energy and economic restrictions will disable most large-scale (and costly) mitigation options. Adaptation, though, is something all of us can (and should) be working on.
In "The List," I have tried to corral and classify the varied ways that humans could usefully respond to climate change. No doubt it is incomplete, and the classification scheme may have shortcomings, but you'll get the idea.
The Stability Wedges model of Pacala and Socolow (originally 2004) has been widely used as a way to bring order and hope to the task of limiting atmospheric CO2 concentrations. [They had to add an additional wedge a few years later because humans had made so little progress in controlling emissions.]
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Some books that address climate change. All of these optimistically view the situation as a problem to be "solved" rather than as a predicament to which we must adapt.
Joe Romm, Hell and High Water (2007): First part of the book outlines the climate challenge
in realistic terms. Unfortunately, his avoidance/ignorance of the scarcity and cost of energy resources undermines most of the lengthy "what we should do" component of the book.
Fred Krupp & Miriam Horn, Earth: The Sequel (2008): Optimistic, somewhat naïve guide to reinventing energy in order to "stop global warming."
Jeffrey Sachs, Common Wealth (2008): Even-more-optimistic plan for "solving" climate, poverty, and other challenges facing us.
Michael Mann & Lee Kump, Dire Predictions (2008): Acessible, graphic-rich overview book subtitled "Illustrated guide to the findings of the IPCC." Includes a lengthy section on "Solving Global Warming."
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The other pages in this section touch on a few of the mitigation options on "The List." Other options are addressed in the fossil fuel and energy pages; adaptation options are discussed in diverse places, including the not-particularly-optimistic, but more realistic, perspectives in Visions of the Future.