When discussing ways to reduce the speed at which the climate is changing in order to stabilise the planet as a whole, many look to various methods and solutions with little to no success. Due to the complexity of climate change and the plethora of issues it presents us with, others have looked toward more broad and encompassing framework to help tackle this crucial time period that we are all apart of today.
Climate mitigation focuses on reducing the output of greenhouse gases or increasing the potential to absorb these harmful gases from the atmosphere in order to reduce global warming. Although easy to explain, in practice this can be quite difficult. In order to achieve this approach, we need to internationally transition from using fossil fuels and focus more on renewable energy. We need to halt deforestation and start rewilding the planet, these solutions thus eliminate the source of harmful gases whilst increasing the rate at which the planet can absorb them.
Climate adaptation can be defined as adapting in different ways to a changing climate and preparing for future adaptation as the climate continues to change. Adaptive solutions often vary depending of geography, are difficult to predict and come with trade-offs. Examples of solutions include diversifying crops to withstand warmer or wetter conditions, helping communities reduce the risk of flooding and adapting infrastructure in order to withstand extreme weather.
Although these approaches offer solutions and goals to tackle the different aspects of a changing climate, they are far from equal with varying outcomes. This disparity is due to one reason: climate justice.
‘From a policymaker’s perspective, adaptation is a local, private good with often clear and immediate benefits. On the other, mitigation is a global, public good with far-away benefits‘ – http://www.climaterealityproject.org
In summary, both these approaches are necessary, however, as we have chosen to focus less on mitigation, the more adaptation we will need later. As a result, less wealthy countries will continue to fall behind as some already struggle to adapt to the climate change issues of today.
Sources:
https://climate.nasa.gov/solutions/adaptation-mitigation/
https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/climate-adaptation-vs-mitigation-why-does-it-matter
Care for the climate 