The Three Approaches

When it comes to climate change alleviation, we tend to stick to 3 options:

• Do nothing

• Wait and see

• Take precautions now

Do Nothing Approach

• A minority of scientists do not believe that climate change will affect human activity and development on earth

• These individuals believe that:

  • Reacting to a non-threat will cause us to forfeit economic development and stop some from progressing out of poverty

  • There are pros as well as cons to warming and we can manage issues with technology

Wait and See Approach

This approach is dangerous because change takes time and if we wait and see, a tipping point may come along and it will be too late to evade consequences.

"Precaution is better than cure" -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

^This is the majority choice, act now just in case.

• Cleaning up pollution always makes sense and we are going to run out of fossil fuels shortly anyway.

There are 3 approaches to this:

• International Commitments

• Nations Actions

• Personal Lifestyle Changes

Mitigation: the action of reducing the severity, seriousness or painfulness of something.

3 Mitigation Strategies:

1. Stabilize or reduce GHG emissions

2. Remove Carbon Dioxide from the Atmosphere

3. Geo-Engineering

Remember: There is always a lag between actions we take and the correction because we already have high levels of GHG in the atmosphere.

Stabilizing or Reducing Greenhouse Gases

Ways to accomplish this:

• Reducing energy waste through efficiency

• Reduce overall demand for energy by using less

• Adopt carbon taxes and remove fossil fuel subsidy

• Set national limits on GHG production and create carbon credit systems

• Reduce carbon footprint through encouragement and personal carbon credits that can be traded.

• Change development pathways and socio-economic choices- changing gov’t priorities and increasing education.

• Improve energy production efficiency

• Reduction of Nitrous Oxides and Methane from Agriculture: Reduce methane production in cattle, methane capture at landfills, promote sustainable agriculture.

• Use alternatives to fossil fuels.

Carbon Tax

• A carbon tax is a fee imposed on the burning of carbon-based fuels and a core policy for reducing and eventually eliminating the use of fossil fuels.

• It basically has users of carbon fuels pay for the climate damage they cause.

• If set high enough, it becomes a powerful monetary disincentive that motivates switches to clean energy across the economy, simply by making it more economically rewarding to move to non-carbon fuels and energy efficiency.

Carbon Credit

• A carbon credit is a tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different GHG.

• Once GHG are capped, everyone receives a share and if you do not use your allotment it can be bought, traded or sold.

• Environmental groups even purchase them to not use them.

3 Ways to remove CO2 from the atmosphere

• We can increase the amount of photosynthesis

  • Decrease Deforestation

  • Reforest areas

  • Restore grasslands

  • Note that this does not reduce emissions. It just removes carbon dioxide.

• Carbon capture and Storage

  • When power plants emit carbon, they can capture the carbon and run it underground into places like un-mineable coal seams, depleted oil and gas fields, and saline and unusable aquifers.

  • Carbon is captured most easily before it is released into the atmosphere from refineries, power plants and industrial plants but this raises the cost of energy and products.

  • The carbon gets captured and stuffed into deep layers of suitable rocks where it stays under its own pressure.

• Use more Biomass

  • Using Biomass as fuel since the burning is equal to one year of capture of the same crop which makes this process neutral-ish.

  • Biomass can be burned directly to generate heat or electricity

  • Biomass can be turned into fossil fuels ex. Biogas or Biodiesel.

Geo-engineering

• These are large scale intervention projects that are theoretical, untried and ethically murky.

Approaches:

• Scatter iron, nitrates, or phosphates on oceans to increase algal blooms creating a carbon sink.

• Release Sulphur dioxide from airplanes to increase global dimming.

• Send mirrors into space to deflect sunlight.

• Build structures with light colored roofs to increase albedo and reflection.

Adaptation

• Adaptation aims to reduce adverse effects and maximize and positive effects.

• These initiatives aim to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems against actual or expected climate change.

• Adaptive capacity- technological and economic resources available and the will of a country, individual or corporation. It is essential for a good outcome.

What adaptation strategies do we use now?

• Change land use through legislation

  • Do not build on floodplains

  • Do not build on coastlines

• Build to resist flooding

  • Plan water catchment

  • Build houses with floodable garages or stilts

• Change agricultural production

  • Irrigate more effectively

  • Do not plant in arid areas

  • Store rainwater

  • Breed drought tolerant crops

  • Grow crops better suited to your area

• Manage the Weather

  • Seed clouds to encourage rain

  • Plant trees to hold moisture

• Migrate to other areas

• Vaccinate against waterborne diseases

• Manage water supplies

  • Desalination plants

  • Increase reservoirs

  • Harvest run-off

  • Use water harvesting from clouds and the atmosphere.