Book

Climate change adaptation : an Earth Institute sustainability primer

Dale, Lisa, author

Overview

\"For much of recent history, climate change policy has focused on mitigation. Reducing emissions and shifting energy sources away from fossil fuels, for example, are actions that could slow the pace of climate change. But despite these (uneven) domestic and international efforts, the climate is already changing in dramatic ways. With escalating risks now certain to occur, scientific projections offer a range of possible outcomes. Coastal communities are struggling with rising sea levels, farmers are grappling with shifts in the timing of seasonal events, and cities face more frequent storm cycles. As a result, policymakers have also begun to consider tools for adaptation, as they seek to build resilience at all scales of governance. Despite the relative nascence of the field, preliminary lessons offer important guidance. This book will provide an overview of the theory and practice that underlie global adaptation efforts. Understanding the challenges that climate change adaptation presents is essential for charting a path toward global sustainability. This book is organized around the thesis that focusing exclusively on climate change mitigation policy - as many analyses do -- does not address the vast majority of human societies now compelled to live within an altered weather system. While the thrust of this book is practical, focused on a range of tools that societies can employ to adapt and build dynamic resiliency, ethical concerns underlie the global dynamic around climate change as well. The author highlights ways the changing climate will have differential effects that can both reflect and intensify current patterns of poverty. Through this lens, the book also considers challenges associated with international development and disaster risk management. The manuscript's interdisciplinary framework includes perspectives from the natural sciences, law, architecture, anthropology, humanitarian aid, economics, and public policy. Case studies illustrate the ways vastly different social contexts and governance scales reflect both innovative solutions and stubborn barriers to effective climate adaptation.\"-- Provided by publisher.

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Subject: Climatic changes. / Climate change mitigation. / Global environmental change.
• ISBN: 9780231199162, 9780231199179

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
QC903 .D25 2022	1	BOOK	GENERAL