H. G. WELLS
NO matter how swift our transition to clean energy sources, inertia in the climate system means that global warming will continue for some decades after CO2 emissions peak. So even if emissions were to begin to decrease today, we would still face the challenge of adapting to climate change. Here I will highlight only some of the more enterprising examples of climate adaptation that spring from our seemingly endless ingenuity.
When it comes to adaptation it is important to understand that climate change is a process. We are therefore not talking about adapting to a new, known baseline, but to a constantly shifting set of conditions. This is why, in part at least, the US National Climate Assessment says that: ‘There is no “one-size fits all” adaptation.’ Nonetheless, there are some actions that offer much and carry little risk or cost. The National Climate Assessment report says: ‘Climate change adaptation actions often fulfill other societal goals, such as sustainable development, disaster risk reduction, or improvements in quality of life, and can therefore be incorporated into existing decision-making processes.’ And yet, the report notes, people often fail to take such actions because of limited funding, or policy impediments or legal restrictions.1
Around the world, at a local level, people are adapting in surprising ways, especially in some of the poorest countries. Floods have become more severe and damaging in Bangladesh in recent decades, with up to a third of the country submerged for some time every year. Mohammed Rezwan saw opportunity where others saw only disaster. His not-for-profit organisation, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangtha, deploys 100 shallow-draft vessels that serve as floating libraries, schools, health clinics and gardens, and are equipped with solar panels, internet access and video conferencing facilities. Rezwan is creating floating connectivity to replace flooded roads and highways. But he is also working at a far more fundamental level: his staff show people how to make floating gardens and fish ponds to prevent starvation during the wet season.2
Elsewhere in Asia even more astonishing initiatives are occurring. Chewang Norphel lives in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, where he is known as the Ice Man. The loss of glaciers due to global warming represents an enormous threat to agriculture—and therefore the survival of the people—in this mountainous region. This is because the spring melting of glaciers releases water just when it’s most needed for agriculture. Without the glaciers, water will arrive in the rivers at times when it can damage crops. Norphel’s inspiration came from seeing the waste of water that occurred over winter, when it was not needed. He diverted the wasted water into shallow basins where it froze, and was stored until the spring.3 His fields of ice supply perfectly timed irrigation water. Having created nine such ice reserves, averaging 250 metres long by 100 metres wide, Norphel estimates that he has stored about 200,000 cubic metres of water. Climate change is an ongoing process, so Norphel’s ice reserves will not endure forever. Warming will overtake them. But he is providing a few years during which the poor farmers of the region will, perhaps, be able to find other means of adapting.
Increasing Earth’s albedo (its reflectiveness) can cool the planet. In the Almería area of southern Spain a proliferation of greenhouses (which reflect light back to space) has reversed the warming trend locally, and actually cooled the region. While Spain as a whole is heating up quickly, temperatures near the greenhouses have decreased by 0.3°C.4 This example should act as a spur for all cities, which often suffer from heat island effects (as built infrastructure tends to retain heat). By painting infrastructure white, cities may more than offset the warming they currently experience.
On the other side of the planet from Spain, the glaciers of the Peruvian Andes have already lost about a quarter of their ice. The Pastoruri Glacier in northern Peru has retreated about 1.6 kilometres in the last 30 years, causing the closure of the region’s international ski tournaments, which were the most important adventure-tourism business in the area. Loss of the glacier is also threatening the livelihoods of farmers.5 Glaciologist Benjamin Morales believes that a temporary answer to the loss of ice could lie in sawdust and white paint. He remembered that ice used to be carried down the mountain in sawdust to prevent it melting, so he covered part of the receding tongue of the glacier with a six-inch deep layer. The rest of the glacier continued to melt, but a year later the sawdust-covered section remained frozen.
Encouraged by Peruvian inventor Eduardo Gold, local farmers around a mountain with a glacier, Chalon Sombrero, that has already fallen victim to climate change have begun painting the entire mountain summit white in the hope that the added reflectiveness will restore the life-giving ice. The paint is made from lime, egg white and water, and the painting process takes around a week per hectare. The entire area to be treated is 70 hectares. The outcome is still far from clear.6 But the World Bank has included the project on its list of ‘100 ideas to save the planet’.7
More mundane forms of adaptation are happening everywhere. A farming friend I’ve known most of my life owns a property in western Victoria. Over five generations and 150 years the property has been too wet for cropping and has been used only to graze cattle and sheep. But during the past decade declining rainfall has allowed him to plant highly profitable crops. Farmers in many countries are also adapting like this—either by growing new produce, or by growing the same things differently. This is common sense. But some suggestions for adapting are not. When a lobbyist for the polluting industries argues that we’ve lost the battle to rein in carbon pollution and have no choice but to adapt, it’s a nonsense designed to make the case for business as usual.
Humanity will continue to adapt to the changing climate in both mundane and astonishing ways. But the most sensible form of adaptation is surely to adapt our energy systems to emit less carbon pollution. After all, if we adapt in that way, we may avoid the need to change in so many others.