Adaptation Emerges As Key Part Of Any Climate Change Plan

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2156

26 May 2009: Report

Adaptation Emerges As Key Part Of Any Climate Change Plan

After years of reluctance, scientists and governments are now looking to adaptation measures as critical for confronting the consequences of climate change. And increasingly, plans are being developed to deal with rising seas, water shortages, spreading diseases, and other realities of a warming world.

by bruce stutz

Adaptation. For many in the climate change community, the word has had a traitorous ring, implying that its proponents were giving up on the notion that the world might mitigate the threat of global warming by significantly reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Adaptation was for quitters.

Not anymore.

With nations in the industrialized and developing worlds continuing to pump record levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, hopes are fading that over the next half-century atmospheric CO₂ levels can be kept below 450 parts per million (ppm) and global warming held to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit). Now, a new sense of urgency has arisen as to how the world will adapt to a warming planet, where carbon dioxide levels could hit 600 parts per million and global temperatures could rise by 3 to 4 degrees C (5.4 to 7.2 degrees F).

“My view is that we’ll be lucky if we can stop CO₂ at 600 ppm,” says Wallace Broecker, a geoscientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. “There’s no way we’re going to stop at 450. Impossible. If we’re going to double CO₂, we’d better prepare what we’re going to do about it.”

…

“Everyone is now talking about adaptation, but for all the talk there’s little actually being done,” says Schneider.

…

[lapfog_1]

1. It will be hard to adapt to the secondary effects

Rising acidity levels in the oceans, along with rising temperatures, are destroying the coral reefs. We have already damaged the reefs by over fishing, over touristing. When the reefs die off... and we deplete the oceans of many remaining species, the result will not be something that we can "adapt to" by changing crops that are grown or something.

[Javaman]

2. The biggest adaption the "civilized" nations have to make is...

living without instant gratification.

Once we understand that, "I want it now" changes to "I want it 6 months from now" or more realistically, "never", then and only then will we adapt.

My hope lies in the fact that people are stupid and enough of them will kill themselves "trying to maintain an unreal way of life", that there will be plenty left over for those of us that actually plan and prepare.

I keep thinking of the Grasshopper and the Ant parable. Only this time, the ant won't help the Grasshopper in the end. The Grasshopper will be dead.