Mitigation and Adaptation

0:09 hello 0:09 my name is dahlia and i'm a graduate 0:11 student at the university of michigan 0:14 we're fortunate to have with us dr 0:15 rosina biernbaum a leading national and 0:17 international expert on climate change 0:21 in addition to being a faculty member 0:23 and former dean at the university of 0:25 michigan's 0:26 school of natural resources and 0:27 environment dr biernbaum has advised 0:30 the white house and the world bank on 0:32 climate change 0:33 and served as the research editor for 0:35 the united nations 0:36 intergovernmental panel on climate 0:38 change welcome dr biermann good morning 0:40 we're really glad to have you with us 0:42 for this course 0:44 and to get things started i was hoping 0:46 that you could talk more specifically 0:48 about climate mitigation and adaptation 0:50 these are words that arise 0:52 often in conversations about climate 0:54 change and it would be good for you to 0:55 explain to us what they refer to 0:57 and how they differ certainly vocabulary 1:00 is very important and in the climate 1:02 change lexicon 1:03 mitigation actually means reducing the 1:06 greenhouse gas emissions the heat 1:08 trapping emissions 1:09 and so that can occur by reducing 1:12 our use of carbon-based fuels which is 1:15 coal oil and gas they all produce carbon 1:17 dioxide the main greenhouse gas 1:19 in fact in the united states 80 percent 1:21 of our greenhouse gases are carbon 1:23 dioxide 1:24 so we can reduce it by burning less of 1:26 that fuel 1:27 for by using um uh more efficient cars 1:31 so that we get more miles per gallon 1:33 but there are other greenhouse gases too 1:35 that we should think about and 1:36 mitigation of those 1:37 include methane we hear a lot about that 1:39 from 1:40 landfills and livestock also nitrous 1:43 oxide 1:44 that comes from fertilizers and high 1:47 heat burning of various things biomass 1:50 burning 1:51 and then there are the 1:52 hydrofluorocarbons the hfcs 1:54 which were actually replacements for 1:56 other refrigerants and coolants that 1:58 destroyed the ozone layer 1:59 but we've now found out that those also 2:02 have heat trapping capabilities and are 2:04 contributing to the greenhouse effect 2:06 so mitigation means reducing the 2:09 emissions of those into the atmosphere 2:11 now there are a lot of ways that you can 2:13 mitigate you can do it by 2:15 increasing energy efficiency so you can 2:18 go further 2:18 on the energy you have or your house is 2:21 more efficient 2:22 but you can also move to non-greenhouse 2:26 gas 2:26 emitting sources of energy which will be 2:28 very important 2:30 such as renewables and we see a lot of 2:32 change in solar and wind in recent years 2:35 so those are great because they don't 2:37 increase the greenhouse gases in the 2:38 atmosphere but mitigation can also mean 2:41 that you actually 2:42 suck the greenhouse gases out of the 2:44 atmosphere 2:45 and so if you think about trees as you 2:48 grow a tree 2:49 it takes carbon dioxide out of the 2:50 atmosphere and it's holding that carbon 2:53 in trees and in forests so enhancing 2:56 growth of biomass very important and 2:59 also avoiding deforestation which is 3:01 happening to a great extent across the 3:03 globe 3:04 is very important so hold the carbon you 3:06 have in trees 3:07 increase it through trees move to 3:09 different sources of energy that don't 3:11 produce carbon dioxide or the other 3:13 greenhouse gases 3:14 and that's the envelope within which 3:17 mitigation is used in the climate 3:19 lexicon 3:20 okay and what about adaptation how does 3:22 that differ from mitigation 3:24 well adaptation is actually the process 3:28 of adjusting or coping with climate 3:31 change 3:31 and so this means protecting yourself 3:35 from the impacts of climate change such 3:37 as rising sea levels 3:39 or the heat island effect in cities 3:42 where 3:43 the elderly and the very young will 3:45 really be at risk so 3:47 if you can take protective measures to 3:50 keep the population from experiencing 3:52 the impacts of climate change 3:54 that all comes under the term of 3:56 adaptation 3:57 and if you think about it adaptation 3:59 could either be anticipatory so you're 4:02 planning ahead 4:03 which is good and things like insurance 4:06 are kind of anticipatory 4:08 but it can also be reactive and reactive 4:11 adaptation i'm sorry to say is what we 4:14 mainly seem to be doing in this country 4:16 and around the world 4:17 so already with the one degree celsius 4:20 increase in temperature that we've seen 4:22 since pre-industrial times 4:24 we're seeing changes in increased 4:26 rainfall events increased heat events 4:29 droughts 4:30 wildfires it's beginning to sound like 4:32 the plagues and 4:33 we are seeing communities react and 4:36 respond and adapt 4:37 sort of after the fact and so i would 4:40 argue that anticipatory 4:42 adaptation is something that we have to 4:44 increasingly 4:45 move towards if we continue to plan 4:49 infrastructure or manage ecosystems 4:53 assuming that the climate of the last 4:55 hundred years is stationary 4:57 we will be sorely wrong and so if we do 5:00 not 5:01 come up with anticipatory adaptation 5:04 measures 5:05 we will exceed the design features 5:09 of our infrastructure as well as 5:12 the species capacities that we are 5:16 planting and hoping 5:17 to survive and get livelihoods from our 5:19 food fiber shelter 5:21 so i would argue adaptation coping with 5:25 climate change 5:26 very important we have to really ramp up 5:28 our attention to it 5:29 it's been far less addressed than all 5:32 the many possibilities for how we can 5:34 reduce emissions 5:36 okay that a very helpful overview thank 5:39 you 5:40 so recognizing there is a difference 5:43 between mitigation and adaptation 5:44 um what is important for our learners to 5:47 be thinking about when they're 5:49 understanding what they can do on 5:50 climate change and when they're thinking 5:52 about the differences between mitigation 5:54 and adaptation how they can take action 5:56 on both 5:57 so i think one thing is that we now have 5:59 come to realize that both 6:01 mitigation and adaptation are needed 6:04 and are needed rapidly because neither 6:07 one 6:07 can solve the problem mitigation will 6:10 take a long time 6:12 and if you look at the amazing agreement 6:14 in paris 6:16 to control greenhouse gases that 6:18 agreement will still 6:20 not keep the temperatures of the planet 6:23 from rising 6:24 uh to only two degrees which is the 6:26 level most scientists 6:28 have agreed is necessary to avoid 6:30 dangerous 6:31 uh in the in the terms of the framework 6:32 convention to avoid dangerous 6:34 anthropogenic interference with the 6:36 climate system 6:37 and that's two degrees celsius which is 6:38 3.6 fahrenheit 6:40 so even though there's this amazing 6:41 agreement it's not enough to keep 6:44 us from heading into dangerous territory 6:47 for ecosystems and people 6:49 and infrastructure and so 6:52 we need as much mitigation as fast as we 6:55 can reduce those greenhouse gas 6:56 emissions 6:57 but we're already seeing as i've said 6:59 changes that are requiring us to adapt 7:02 so we need to be thinking proactively 7:06 about adaptation in every situation 7:09 of managing natural resources or 7:11 planning future infrastructure because 7:13 we hope those things will persist for 7:15 many many decades 7:16 even as climate is changing and even as 7:19 we are trying to mitigate the effects 7:21 so i guess to conclude i would say that 7:24 adaptation 7:25 gets costlier as climate change proceeds 7:29 and it will be 7:30 less effective and we don't we know that 7:33 the pace and magnitude of climate change 7:35 is increasing now 7:36 so we need enough mitigation to avoid 7:39 the unmanageable and enough adaptation 7:43 to manage that which is unavoidable and 7:46 i would just remind you that even in the 7:48 united states we've had 7:50 five 1000 year floods in 2016. 7:54 we are clearly outside the normal 7:57 envelope 7:58 of temperature and this can only be 8:00 explained 8:01 by greenhouse gases being added to the 8:03 atmosphere so we're in 8:05 an era of needing as much mitigation as 8:08 fast as we can 8:09 and as much proactive adaptation as is 8:11 possible 8:12 i think you did a really good job of 8:14 capturing the urgency and the need to 8:15 act 8:16 but also the complexities that we in 8:18 some ways need how 8:19 to learn how to walk and chew gum we 8:21 need to be mitigating and adapting 8:23 simultaneously 8:24 and that's i know as we were preparing 8:26 this course 8:27 that was something we we certainly 8:29 recognized but we we managed to come 8:31 across 8:31 a lot more examples and a lot more 8:33 actions that were related to mitigation 8:36 and not as many examples related to 8:38 adaptation 8:39 so as an expert on climate change i was 8:41 hoping that maybe you could provide an 8:43 example on what adaptation 8:44 looks like and paint a picture of what 8:47 adaptation actions look like 8:49 well that's a very interesting question 8:51 i do think adaptation has been under 8:53 attended to 8:54 i would argue that it is local 8:58 communities 8:58 that are on the cutting edge of 9:00 adaptation because they are seeing 9:03 these flooding droughts wildfires and in 9:06 real time 9:07 they have to adapt i remember giving a 9:09 climate change talk a few years ago to 9:11 mayors 9:12 and the mayor of duluth said stop 9:15 telling me what's going to happen just 9:17 tell me what i should do now i'm getting 9:19 extreme rainfall events a 24-hour 9:22 rainfall in one hour 9:24 and should i develop the wetlands on one 9:26 side of town where it's steep but the 9:27 wetlands are helping to store all this 9:29 extra water 9:30 and so in real time i think cities are 9:33 actually 9:34 making decisions that are helping with 9:36 adaptation 9:37 when i participated with several 9:39 students in the 9:41 u.s national climate assessment in 2014 9:44 we set out to try to figure out 9:46 what's happening who's trying what what 9:48 are these experiments in adaptation 9:50 and i'm happy to say that in the few 9:53 years since then we're seeing 9:54 hundreds of examples of cities trying to 9:57 think about 9:58 adaptation and really taking action 10:01 and so for example manhattan where there 10:04 is an awful lot of expensive 10:05 infrastructure and very subject to sea 10:07 level rise and storm surge 10:10 they are trying to bring back 127 10:13 acres of wetlands which will help 10:15 protect against the storm surge 10:17 a great concern about climate change is 10:19 the urban heat island effect because of 10:21 course cities are warmer than the 10:23 surrounding countryside 10:24 and as climate changes cities can be 10:26 many degrees warmer 10:28 than the countryside and we've seen heat 10:31 stress 10:31 events especially in chicago a few years 10:33 back where some 700 people died 10:36 from temperatures that never got cool 10:39 enough 10:39 in the night time in fact it was the 10:41 nighttime highs that seemed related with 10:43 death 10:44 and it was the elderly and the young 10:46 that are particularly sensitive 10:48 so her urban heat island effect is 10:50 something many cities are thinking about 10:52 and new york city is one where they've 10:55 decided wherever we can we're going to 10:57 paint the roofs white because that helps 10:59 reflect 11:00 the incoming radiation and to keep the 11:02 housing cooler 11:04 and similarly in chicago there was a big 11:07 effort 11:07 under mayor daley to put giant green 11:10 roofs on giant buildings and green roofs 11:13 are actually 11:14 plants and they can help absorb water 11:18 and hold it in the soils but they also 11:20 cool the building and there's an example 11:22 in chicago of a building that is half 11:24 green roof 11:25 and half black roof and the temperature 11:28 differences 11:29 during the middle of the day in the 11:30 summer were astounding so 11:32 a very real example of how green roofs 11:35 and white roofs can help 11:38 water is really the linchpin of climate 11:40 change too much 11:41 too little wrong time wrong wrong 11:43 quality and so you're seeing a lot of 11:45 actions in water so cities as different 11:48 as santa clara california and el paso 11:52 texas have implemented water 11:54 conservation efforts because they've 11:56 been seeing 11:57 a lot of drought and heat stress in our 12:01 own city of ann arbor 12:02 we lost all of our ash trees due to the 12:05 emerald ash borer and that was one of 12:08 the six 12:08 trees approved for city plantings well 12:11 now that we have to replace them the 12:13 city is thinking about 12:15 what trees are likely to persist over 12:18 the next 12:18 several decades during which time we 12:21 expect the climate change 12:23 map to slowly march north we've also 12:26 implemented in the city rates for our 12:30 stormwater utility 12:32 and so impervious surfaces 12:35 sort of cement are really risky for lots 12:39 of runoff and so 12:40 our utility system is based on how much 12:44 uh impervious surface you have or the 12:47 more 12:48 pervious surface you have where water 12:50 can drain through 12:51 is better so there are actually 12:53 incentives for not just paving over 12:55 things 12:57 and probably the poster child of 12:59 adaptation was 13:00 king new hampshire way back in 2007 13:04 they realized that their culverts and 13:05 drainage systems 13:07 were being overloaded by rainfall and as 13:10 i've said we are seeing increasing 13:12 intensity and frequency of rainfall 13:14 as climate changes so they said we're 13:17 just going to have to build them bigger 13:19 and so they took it upon themselves with 13:21 their infrastructure planning 13:23 to actually now make them deeper and 13:25 they're studying them as these 13:26 increasing rainfall events continue to 13:28 come through to see whether or not they 13:30 have 13:31 as much adaptive capacity as they need 13:34 some counties like miami-dade county 13:37 where sea level rise 13:38 is is going to be a problem and we're 13:40 already 13:41 seeing that they need to use pumping 13:43 stations during high tides 13:46 they're looking at something like a 400 13:48 million dollar project to try to 13:51 pump water out another example 13:54 is the city of cambridge massachusetts 13:56 where we expect there could be quite a 13:58 bit of flooding as sea level rises and 14:00 especially during high tides 14:03 they're wondering whether they should 14:04 actually allow 14:06 basement apartments anymore because the 14:08 flooding may happen 14:10 so a lot of issues related to zoning 14:13 to habitat management to protecting 14:16 people's health 14:17 are all popping up as areas where 14:20 adaptation of climate change is 14:22 something we need to consider 14:24 great thank you you've provided a number 14:27 of examples for cities in the united 14:29 states do you have any additional 14:30 examples for cities around the world 14:33 well i suppose one of the most famous 14:36 ones 14:36 is the water barriers in the thames 14:39 where they will be able to close them 14:41 if sea level and flooding becomes a real 14:44 problem and of course the netherlands 14:46 which is a place that has dealt with 14:48 flooding for many many years 14:49 you can now find people that are living 14:51 in floating houses and so those will be 14:54 able to rise and fall with the sea level 14:56 which may in a way be an ultimate 14:58 adaptation in a flooded area 15:00 yeah certainly so uh 15:03 as as you know we are embarking 15:06 as part of this course on a sustained 15:08 period of study and action 15:10 to address as well as adapt to climate 15:12 change and as you mentioned 15:14 adaptation is something that people are 15:16 coming too late but there's a lot of 15:17 excitement around adaptation 15:19 so based on your work and experience 15:22 what are recommendations that you have 15:23 for our learners about what actions they 15:25 can take 15:26 as individuals to respond to climate 15:28 change and adapt to climate change 15:32 well i think that climate change is 15:34 going to be a defining feature 15:36 of all of the students lives and so i 15:40 think you need to think about it in that 15:41 way i think you need to think about 15:43 climate change 15:44 in all aspects of your life and how you 15:47 can do 15:48 both more mitigation and adaptation to 15:51 climate change as you proceed 15:53 because both are needed both are needed 15:55 as fast as possible 15:56 so one of the things that i would 15:57 suggest is that each of you 16:00 produce for yourself a carbon footprint 16:03 and there are many ways that you can do 16:05 this there are many websites that you 16:06 can go to 16:07 and once you figure out where your 16:09 greenhouse gas emissions are coming from 16:11 in your current lifestyle 16:13 figure out if there's a way you can 16:15 reduce it 20 percent just for starters 16:17 and it's not that hard 16:19 you can walk you can bike you can bus 16:21 you can buy a more efficient car 16:24 you can mitigate your footprint if 16:26 you're at the stage in your life where 16:28 you're buying a house 16:29 you might want to see is it energy 16:31 efficient 16:32 do you have a white roof to cool it can 16:34 you put a green roof 16:36 on it is it in a flood zone are you 16:38 going to be able to adapt 16:40 is it subject to sea level rise 16:42 depending on where you live in the 16:43 country 16:44 are there shade trees to cool that house 16:46 so that the urban heat island effect 16:48 is not so serious in the summer are the 16:52 trees around you 16:53 drought tolerant and flood tolerant 16:56 if you're into landscaping think about 16:59 what plants you're going to put there 17:01 that may or may not be able to persist 17:04 as we look at the plant hardiness zones 17:07 where plants can live 17:08 we've seen that they've shifted 17:10 significantly in the last decade 17:12 and over the next 30 years they're 17:14 projected to shift by as much as 120 17:17 miles north 17:19 and when i first mentioned this to our 17:20 landscape architects in the school 17:23 they said but but we tell everyone to 17:25 plant native 17:26 what is native if plants are actually 17:29 marching towards the poles 17:30 as the temperature and moisture regimes 17:33 push them in that way 17:34 so i think we really need to think about 17:37 every decision in your life 17:39 from purchases to behavior and whether 17:43 you 17:43 are exacerbating climate change or 17:46 contributing to 17:47 mitigating and whether you are actually 17:49 making yourself 17:50 and your community and your country more 17:52 adaptive 17:54 great that's a great call to action on 17:56 the individual level 17:57 and as part of the course we're 17:58 encouraging our learners to think how 18:00 they can come together in community and 18:02 take action on climate change so what 18:04 would be a good recommendation to 18:05 transition from the individual level to 18:07 the community level 18:09 well i would say that the most important 18:12 thing 18:12 that you can do is to actually get 18:14 involved in your community 18:16 decision-making process and be sure 18:18 that climate change concerns are 18:20 addressed in 18:21 all actions all infrastructure all laws 18:24 all regulations 18:26 democracy is a participatory sport 18:30 and you have to be part of making the 18:33 world 18:34 a sustainable one for you and for your 18:36 children where climate change is going 18:38 to be very evident 18:40 if we end up at a roasted world or 18:43 the world that's four degrees celsius 18:45 almost eight degrees fahrenheit 18:47 warmer than it was in the pre-industrial 18:49 era 18:50 that is not a sustainable world and 18:53 striving to get at what the scientists 18:56 are calling for only a two degree c 3.6 18:59 degree fahrenheit warmer world 19:01 is still not going to be a picnic if we 19:03 are successful 19:04 at that 2 degree world we may still lose 19:07 20 to 30 percent of species 19:09 another billion people in the world may 19:12 be under water stress the coral reefs 19:14 might be gone 19:15 so it's it's going to be a tough slog 19:18 and so 19:19 it's very important all of us live in a 19:22 community a university community 19:24 a city a state a country and 19:27 much like what we can think about at the 19:29 personal level we should think about how 19:31 we can 19:32 make our communities more 19:34 climate-proofed 19:36 so i would say you've got to get 19:38 involved to improve your place you 19:40 should volunteer 19:41 to serve on environment committees you 19:43 should certainly 19:44 express your concerns to your mayor to 19:47 your congressmen who will listen to you 19:49 especially if you're in their district 19:51 to your city council 19:53 and if infrastructures or parks are 19:55 being developed 19:56 make sure that on the agenda is thinking 19:58 about whether these will persist 20:00 as climate changes i think that it's 20:03 it's really 20:04 important also though to be a concerned 20:07 citizen and a civic scientist 20:09 and what i would say is that i think 20:11 every student ought to be able to 20:13 explain 20:14 what climate change is to their parents 20:17 their grandparents their children 20:19 their city council member their member 20:21 of congress 20:22 and so one of the things that i would 20:24 hope the students of this course leave 20:25 with 20:26 is the ability to do that and one of the 20:29 ways that i keep in my mind how to do 20:31 the climate story 20:32 is just 10 words which come from a yale 20:36 professor 20:37 tony lucerowicz and a george mason 20:39 professor ed myback 20:40 and these 10 words if you can remember 20:42 this will help you 20:44 shape a story that you can tell to any 20:46 member of your family 20:48 so the first is it's real climate change 20:51 is real plenty of facts you can put 20:53 behind that 20:54 it's us you can't explain it without 20:56 humans 20:57 causing this it's bad we're headed to 21:01 a roasted world scientists agree 21:05 very important with all of the uh the 21:08 media flurry out there the fact that 21:10 scientists 21:11 agree 97 of scientists 21:14 agree it's real it's bad it's us 21:17 is something that really needs to be 21:19 spread more widely and then the fifth 21:21 two word 21:22 is there's hope there's plenty that we 21:25 can do on both mitigation and adaptation 21:28 so i hope that you and all the students 21:30 will frame for yourself your own 21:32 story around these 10 words it's real 21:35 it's us it's bad 21:36 scientists agree and there's hope and 21:39 communicate that to everyone great thank 21:42 you 21:43 that's uh we have we certainly have our 21:45 work cut out for us but it's good that 21:46 we're embarking on this course to learn 21:48 more and prepare to take action 21:50 i want to thank you dr biernbaum for 21:52 joining us as a leading expert on 21:54 climate change on climate medication 21:56 adaptation which we just learned a lot 21:57 more about and we're certainly more 21:59 informed 22:00 and you shared a lot of knowledge that 22:02 we're going to be able to apply moving 22:03 forward in this course so thank you for 22:05 joining us 22:05 that's great thank you it's a great 22:07 pleasure dahlia