Mitigation or Adaptation - the Answer is Yes!

[Jerry W Nagel]

Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth by Mark Hertsgaard

 

This is the latest in a series of books dealing with the idea that the climate change shouting is over and the game has begun.  The basic idea is that if we really wanted to avoid climate change due to global warming we should have reduced CO2 emissions 20-30 years ago when the problem was first noted.  As a result of this foot-dragging, global warming and climate change are now under way and nothing we can do will stop it from playing out over the next 50 years.  The main reason for serious reductions in CO2 emissions at this point (“mitigation” as defined by Hertsgaard) is to reduce the violence and extent of the climate change we are faced with.  Beyond that, he argues, we need to take some serious action to prepare for what is on the way (“adaptation” as defined by Hertsgaard).  His catch phrase for this situation is that “we must avoid the unmanageable and manage the unavoidable”. 

 

Even though Hertsgaard repeatedly emphasizes the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the primary thrust of this book is a discussion of what needs to be done to adapt to the unavoidable climate change we are going to see in the next 50 years.  I was particularly taken with the chapter entitled “Ask the Climate Question” in which he urges concerned citizens to find out what is predicted for their specific area and then ask their local governments what climate adaptation plans are in the works.  Does this sound like a GINI project?  I was quite chagrined to realize I don’t know the answer to either of those questions.  Is flooding in downtown Johnson City part of this problem?  How about the great flood in Roan Mountain several years ago?

 

I strongly recommend this book for GINI members.  Unlike many environmental crisis books I have recently read, this one comes across as a down-to-earth pragmatic treatment of real problems with a minimum of wishful thinking.  Get a copy and let’s have a community discussion on our website.

 

Jerry Nagel

[Carol Landis]

I'll add things as I have time here and there. But please feel free to add resources that you believe should be listed. My list is haphazard, and by no means exhaustive.

[Jerry W Nagel]

Just finished reading Eaarth: Making a Life On a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben and would definately add it to the reading list.  Like Hot, it accepts that global climate change is now occuring and we will have to adapt to it.  Unlike Hot, it focuses less on specific structural actions that will be needed to more or less continue as normal and stresses major societal and economic theory revolutions needed to persist as a civilization.  The emphasis here is on the return of the local community in the future of our species.  This approach is similar to yet another book I like, Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth by David Korten.

[Jerry W Nagel]

That is exactly what we need.  I ran across it shortly after my post of this blog.  I will need to add it to my links page as soon as Mark posts it.

[Carol Landis]

The projections for the next 50 years are laid out (in general terms, anyway) in the document about impacts on the U.S.  (The link in the previous sentence connects to the page about the Southeast U.S.)

 

[Jerry W Nagel]

Mark - Unfortunately my copy of Hot is on my Kindle and doesn't pass around easily.  Saves on paper & trees but cuts down on the ability to loan out.  Life is a trade off!  Eaarth is on my list for my next read.  Hertsgaard cites it as a must read.  Reading list sounds like a good idea; will look into it.

 

Jerry

[Mark McCalman]

Fantastic, Jerry.  Thanks for sharing.  I'm so intriqued I want to take a look at the next GINI mtg.  Do you think you could bring it?  Have you read Eaarth, by McKibben?  I saw in a bookstore recently and it sounded interesting.  Maybe you could start a recommended reading list??

See you at GINI on Feb 20th

--Mark