{"id":383040,"date":"2025-06-13T08:31:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T06:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=383040"},"modified":"2025-06-13T08:31:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T06:31:02","slug":"climate-adaptation-vs-mitigation-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=383040","title":{"rendered":"Climate Adaptation vs. Mitigation Fail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Master Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Bradley Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI still don\u2019t love talking about climate adaptation. I wish we didn\u2019t have to\u2026. I\u2019m not admitting defeat. But I am realistic that we need to adapt too.\u201d ( \u2013 Tim McPhie, below)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the post-Net Zero CO2 world (yes, here we are), the new argument is every-little-bit<\/em> counts \u201cto avoid the worst effects of climate change.\u201d Forget precision or cost\/benefit analysis; it is a qualitative \u2018deep ecology<\/a>\u2018 argument. They know that the real math is daunting with negative CO2 emissions being required starting decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brave talk about energy transformation will continue, but reality is creeping in. Consider this from Tim McPhie<\/a>, a five-year climate communication expert at the European Commission. \u201cI\u2019ll admit it,\u201d, he posted<\/a> on social media, \u201cI was never really comfortable talking about climate adaptation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I guess it always felt like accepting defeat. I used to think that talking about adapting meant accepting that we wouldn\u2019t be able to stop or limit climate change. And it felt like giving a free pass to those who didn\u2019t even want to try.

It was always easier to talk about climate mitigation. Governments and institutions setting new targets is easy to explain. Encouraging people to install solar panels, build wind turbines, use less energy, drive electric cars, make energy efficient products\u2026 There was always a story.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But change is change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I don\u2019t regret for a second communicating the urgency of reducing emissions. And I think that we made major progress. But we have already seen climate change hitting hard in the past few years.

The EU clearly needs to become more resilient to temperature changes, shifting precipitation patterns, changing seasons and more extreme weather events. This is essential for our health and wellbeing, for our security and for our prosperity\u2026.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It is a bummer argument, he acknowledges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

[Adaptation and resilience] \u2026 feels so defensive, focused on avoiding damage, preventing the worst kind of harms, minimising or avoiding losses. I think most people want to reach for something good in their lives, not hide from something bad. They want to seek out opportunities, not avoid risks.

Luckily there is a different story starting to emerge about climate adaptation. <\/a>William Samoei Ruto PHD<\/a> and <\/a>Patrick Verkooijen<\/a> tell it well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adaptation is not simply a means of minimising the damage inflicted by extreme weather, although that alone would justify the investment. Done properly, it can transform economies, as well as strengthen them against natural disasters \u2026 Companies that develop cutting-edge solutions for climate adaptation\u2026will gain a competitive advantage in a world where demand for these products and services is only likely to grow.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

McPhie ends:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I still don\u2019t love talking about climate adaptation. I wish we didn\u2019t have to. But we do. And at least there are some some more positive stories being told. We must still keep fighting to reduce emissions, and I\u2019m not admitting defeat. But I am realistic that we need to adapt too.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inconvenient truth is that the whole climate issue is self-defeating. Warmer weather increases the demand for air conditioning and mist machines during the hot months, increasing energy demand. Wind, solar, and battery industrialization come with their own environmental drawbacks, not to mention economic burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adaptation itself requires a whole lot of cement and steel, which requires a lot of affordable, reliable energy, not wind and solar. And that means higher, incremental CO2 emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hard being \u201cgreen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the post-Net Zero CO2 world (yes, here we are), the new argument is\u00a0every-little-bit\u00a0counts \u201cto avoid the worst effects of climate change.\u201d Forget precision or cost\/benefit analysis; it is a qualitative \u2018deep ecology\u2018 argument. They know that the real math is daunting with negative CO2 emissions being required starting decades ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":383042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829997,691818056,691835791,691819303,691818154],"class_list":["post-383040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-carbon-dioxide-co","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-mitigation","tag-european-commission","tag-net-zero","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/OIG1-16.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1BE4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":273850,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=273850","url_meta":{"origin":383040,"position":0},"title":"\u201cThere Is No Climate Crisis\u201d\u20261600 Scientists Worldwide, Nobel Prize Laureate Sign Declaration","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/16\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The message is clear: there is no climate crisis. 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