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How Can We Take on Climate Change?

By Sierra Kirkpatrick

We all live in a world confronting the realities of climate change. That might feel
overwhelming, but there are many different solutions available to us. Some of them
have the goal of lessening, or mitigating, the problem. Climate change mitigation is
how we reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thereby
slowing and limiting climate change. Other solutions have the goal of responding, or
adapting, to the problem to reduce its impact. Climate change adaptation is how we
respond to climate change to reduce its impact on people, places, and ecosystems.
How Can We Take on Climate Change?
By Sierra Kirkpatrick

Imagine you’re the captain of a sailboat cruising through ocean waters. The crew notices that water has started to
seep through holes in the hull of your boat. Since they caught it early, you still have options. You could work to
identify the leaks in the hull and patch them. Of course, then you’d also need to pump out the water already aboard.
Regardless, it would make sense to have everyone put on their rubber boots to wade through the water. Or, you
could turn your boat around and head for shore.

Mitigation vs. adaptation

Although not all of us will serve as captains of a sinking ship, we do all live in a world confronting the realities of
climate change. That might feel overwhelming, but there are many different solutions available to us. Some of them,
like stopping the water from leaking into your ship, have the goal of lessening, or mitigating, the problem. Climate
change mitigation is how we reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thereby slowing and
limiting climate change. This process is also commonly called decarbonization. Other solutions to the sinking-boat
scenario, such as putting on boots or heading for shore, have the goal of responding, or adapting, to the problem to
reduce its impact. Climate change adaptation is how we respond to climate change to reduce its impact on people,
places, and ecosystems.

Climate change mitigation strategies are focused on one of two goals: reducing the amount of greenhouse gases
we emit into the atmosphere or collecting and storing greenhouse gases elsewhere, either through natural sinks or
carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. Mitigation solutions include everything from renewable energy
to electric cars to public transportation to meat alternatives. Mitigation strategies are also at the heart of most well-
known goals surrounding climate change, like the international effort to stay below 1.5° Celsius of warming, as set
out in the Paris Agreement.

Mitigation solutions are those that reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This plant in
China uses molten salt to gather and store solar energy, a zero carbon energy source. © Getty Images.

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How Can We Take on Climate Change?
By Sierra Kirkpatrick

You may, however, not have heard very much about climate change adaptation strategies. Adaptation strategies are
often specific to local regions and communities. That’s because every region faces a unique set of environmental
conditions and climate change impacts, and every community has a different set of resources available to them.
Adaptation strategies are primarily focused on one or more of the following goals:

1. Reducing vulnerability—The level of exposure and sensitivity of a community to a disaster. For example, a
community facing sea-level rise could restore coastal wetlands that act as a buffer to storm surges, and so
reduce vulnerability.
2. Increasing resilience—The capacity of a community to keep functioning during a disaster. Many strategies
that reduce vulnerability also increase resilience. The community facing sea-level rise could relocate critical
infrastructure—like energy generation plants or transportation networks—to higher ground to increase
resilience.
3. Expanding adaptive capacity—The technical and social skills that help a community respond to a disaster.
That same community facing sea-level rise could train people to protect their homes from intense flooding
or to evacuate safely when needed, all of which expands adaptive capacity.

In pursuit of these goals, communities can adopt a variety of adaptation strategies. Sometimes, it might mean
building flood-resistant buildings in areas facing increased flood risk or expanding access to air conditioners to deal
with extreme heat. Or communities might employ new methods of forest management, develop drought resistant
crops, or even migrate away from frequent disaster zones.

Where do mitigation and adaptation meet?

While mitigation and adaptation may seem entirely separate types of climate change solutions with different goals,
there are areas of overlap. Of course, how much adaptation is needed is dependent on how much mitigation we’re
able to achieve. There are also some solutions and innovations that are helpful for both mitigation and adaptation.

For example, wetland restoration is the process of reintroducing wetland habitats to areas that had been developed
for other land uses. Wetland restoration can be a form of mitigation since wetlands act as natural carbon sinks,
pulling large amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air and storing it. But wetland restoration can also be a form of
adaptation, as wetlands reduce the intensity and impact of storms and hurricanes that pass over them.

Restoring wetlands like this peat bog in the United Kingdom can help with both climate adaptation and mitigation. © Getty Images.

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How Can We Take on Climate Change?
By Sierra Kirkpatrick

There are also some adaptation strategies that may counteract mitigation efforts and vice versa. One example is that
in responding to more extreme temperatures, many regions will expand their use of heating and cooling systems
like air conditioners. There are many places that are already just too hot for people to survive without them. More
air conditioners means more demand for electricity. And far too much of our electricity still comes from burning
fossil fuels. Mitigation and adaptation strategies are often intricately interconnected.

Adaptation, mitigation, or both?

So, should we acknowledge that climate change is here and put all our efforts into adapting to the impacts of
climate change? Or should we focus our efforts on mitigation to reduce emissions as quickly as possible? Well, the
reality is that we need to do both.

There’s no one climate change “switch” that we can turn on or off. Climate change happens on a spectrum, and
there’s a big difference in the extent of climate change. For example, the world looks a lot different at 1.5° C of
warming versus 2.0° C and beyond. At 1.5° C of warming, 14% of the world population will face a severe heatwave
every five years. At 2.0° C of warming, that percentage more than doubles to 37% of the world population. At 1.5° C
of warming, the average drought length will be around two months. At 2.0° C, it is four months. These differences
will determine whether individual people, communities, and ecosystems will be able to recover. The strategies
needed to adapt to a 2.0° C warmer world will need to be much more intense. That’s why mitigation is essential to
dealing with climate change: the more we can mitigate emissions now, the less widespread its impact will be and
the less drastic measures we will need to adapt to a changing climate.

But we can’t focus exclusively on mitigation because we’re already seeing the impact of climate change across the
globe. From increased storm frequency and severity to longer periods of drought and flooding, these impacts are
being felt right now—we can’t wait the years or decades required for mitigation to be implemented. Communities
need access to adaptation strategies. We are also seeing that climate change does not affect us all equally. Those
hit hardest by the impacts of climate change are often those who have contributed the least to greenhouse gas
emissions. Adaptation solutions are needed not only on a practical level but on a moral level. If we were to focus
on mitigation solutions and delay working on adaptation, the most vulnerable among us would be facing the worst
climate change impacts on their own. This would be a blatant injustice and an unwise strategy for long-term
success.

As the captain of a leaking ship, you need to focus on both addressing the root cause or causes of the problem,
the hole in the ship, and preparing for its longer-term impacts if you are to protect your ship and your crew. The
same is true for how we address climate change. We need to pursue both mitigation and adaptation solutions and
understand how they are connected if we are to create a resilient, sustainable, and just future.

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How Can We Take on Climate Change?
By Sierra Kirkpatrick

Sierra Kirkpatrick
Sierra Kirkpatrick is a member of the Climate Project editorial team. She focuses on making environmental science
research available and accessible to all audiences. Sierra holds degrees in Molecular Environmental Biology and Sustainable
Environmental Design from the University of California, Berkeley.

Credit: “How Can We Take on Climate Change?”, Sierra Kirkpatrick / OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/

Image credits
This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 except for the following:

Cover image: Seawalls use different designs to protect shorelines from erosion and the impacts of waves, like this one in
Portugal made from concrete tetrapods. Westend61 / Getty Images.
Mitigation solutions are those that reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This plant in China uses molten
salt to gather and store solar energy, a zero carbon energy source. © Hu Chengwei / Stringer / Getty Images.
Restoring wetlands like this peat bog in the United Kingdom can help with both climate adaptation and mitigation. © Ashley
Cooper / Image Bank / Getty Images.

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