Section 2 of 4 · Line 2

Mitigation & Adaptation

About 7 minutes, plus the reading

Your slide
  1. Line 1,
  2. Line 2,
  3. Line 3,
  4. Line 4,

Step 1 · The line

The line we're fixing

Line 2 · What can we do? Recycle, turn off the lights, and plant trees.

All three actions are useful. But each one is something one person does, and each one tries to slow climate change. None of them helps people deal with changes that are already happening, like floods, heat waves, and wildfire smoke.

Step 1 · Quick prediction

A town floods every spring

Make your best guess. There's no penalty for being wrong.

Which action on Line 2 helps the town this year?

Step 2 · Learn

Two kinds of action

  • Mitigation

    Reducing the greenhouse gases that cause warming, or helping nature absorb more of them. It deals with the cause.

    Example: a town switches from coal power to wind power.

  • Adaptation

    Adjusting to climate change that is happening now or is expected, to reduce harm. It deals with the effects.

    Example: a city opens cooling centres during heat waves.

Definitions paraphrased from the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report glossary (2022).

For your classroom: a bathtub is overflowing. Turning off the tap is mitigation. Mopping the floor and moving things out of the way is adaptation. You need to do both. If you only mop, the water keeps coming.

The bathtub analogy An overflowing bathtub. The running tap is labelled mitigation: turn it off. The mop on the wet floor is labelled adaptation: deal with the water. Mitigation turn off the tap Adaptation deal with the water

When one action does both

In Section 1, rewetting a drained peatland broke a feedback loop by keeping carbon in the soil. That makes it mitigation. The RSPB article adds something else: sphagnum moss can hold about 25 times its own weight in water, so healthy peatlands help slow flooding. That makes rewetting adaptation as well.

A hand holding a small clump of sphagnum moss, green and pinkish-red, packed with tiny star-shaped tips.
Sphagnum moss. It can hold about 25 times its own weight in water.“Sphagnum capillifolium kz01” by Krzysztof Ziarnek (Kenraiz), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Healthy peatlands also improve water quality and give wildlife a home. Extra gains like these are called co-benefits.

A drained peatland Cross-section of drained peat. Full description in the text version below. Drained Rain runs off fast CO₂ escapes Dry peat Water table is low Ditch drains water away A rewetted peatland Cross-section of rewetted peat. Full description in the text version below. Rewetted Moss soaks up rain, slowing floods Ditch blocked Water table is high Carbon stays in the wet peat

Text version of the diagram

  1. Drained: a ditch carries water away, so the water table sits low.
  2. The top layer of peat dries out and releases carbon dioxide. Rain runs off the surface quickly.
  3. Rewetted: the ditch is blocked, so the water table rises close to the surface.
  4. Carbon stays locked in the wet peat (mitigation), and the moss soaks up rain, which slows floods (adaptation).

Maladaptation

An action meant to reduce climate harm that ends up increasing it, for the same people, for other people, or in the future. It is usually not intended.

Paraphrased from the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report glossary (2022).

When an action backfires

  • Air conditioningIt helps people get through heat waves. If the electricity comes from fossil fuels, it also adds to the warming that makes heat waves worse.
  • Trees in the wrong placeThe RSPB lists tree planting as one of the causes of peatland damage. “Plant trees,” the third action on Line 2, can do harm if the trees go on a bog.

A limit to keep in mind

Rewetting stops a drained peatland from releasing more carbon. It does not reduce the carbon we release by burning fossil fuels, which is still the main cause from Line 1. Nature-based solutions have to go together with cutting emissions; they can't replace it.

Adaptive capacity

The latent ability of a system to respond proactively and positively to stressors or opportunities.

Whitney et al. (2017)

“Latent” means the ability is already there before it is needed. It includes knowledge, relationships, resources, and the power to make decisions.

The authors compared 11 approaches that researchers use to assess adaptive capacity. Only one of them, participatory planning, was linked to action. In participatory planning, the community helps plan the response. Most of the other approaches measure a community's capacity but stop there.

Read: adaptive capacity, from assessment to action

Required reading · About 20 minutes for the focus parts

Adaptive capacity: From assessment to action in coastal social-ecological systems

Whitney, C. K., et al. (2017). Ecology and Society, 22(2), Article 22.

As you read, look for:

  • The abstract. How do the authors define adaptive capacity, and what problem do they point out at the end?
  • Table 3. Find the question “Adaptive capacity of whom and for whom?” Why might that question matter when a plan is made?
  • The conclusions. Why do so few assessments lead to action?
Read the article by Whitney et al. (2017) (opens in a new tab)

Step 3 · Check

Sort the actions

Decide whether each action is mitigation, adaptation, or both. You'll get feedback as soon as you choose.

1. A city switches its buses from diesel to electric.
2. A town opens cooling centres during heat waves.
3. A community rewets a drained peatland.
4. Every home installs air conditioning powered by fossil fuels.

Step 4 · Fix it

Rewrite Line 2

Rewrite the line so it includes both kinds of action and at least one thing people do together. If you can, say who the action is for. One or two sentences. Prefer to sketch it, or say it aloud? Do that instead. Your text saves on this device only.

Compare with one possible version

“We can cut the pollution that causes warming, like switching to clean energy, and prepare for changes already here, like restoring wetlands that soak up floodwater. The best actions do both, and they work best when the people affected help plan them.”

This version includes both kinds of action, things people do together, and who helps decide.

Whitney's Table 3 asks whose adaptive capacity we mean, and who it is for. Line 3 says Indigenous communities and poor countries are “the most vulnerable.” Who decided that? And who is already taking action?

Ready to continue?

Line 2 is fixed. In Section 3, you'll watch the film Hikila (about 30 minutes) and take another look at who Line 3 calls “vulnerable.”

Back to Section 1

Section 3 Next: Leading, Not Waiting · 7 min + film