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In a world that talks so much about Climate Change, environmental protection, and mitigation, we rarely talk about adapting to the climate that we’ll soon be living in.
Such mitigation should have started years ago.
Instead, it seems more interesting for people to discuss how it’s better to leave the planet we are destroying and colonise other planets. The Moon must be quivering and Mars would rather self-implode. If humans can’t survive on a planet they have called ‘home’ for so long, it’s pretty clear what will happen on an unknown planet.
The more imposing question is: if the technology to study or even be able to live on other planets does or will exist, then why can’t we use that to adapt to the changing climate here on Earth?
With that in mind, let’s filter out some of the myths in this climate story and try to find some truth amongst the lies.
Deforestation
According to the world-leading conservation organisation, the World Wild Fund (better known as WWF), ‘up to 15 billion trees are being cut down every year across the world, and a forest the size of a football pitch is destroyed every two seconds.’ These are naturally occurring forests brimming with wildlife that call these areas their home. The land is cleared mainly for the production of food like meat, soy, palm oil, and plantations for timber.
It’s a frightening thought, but as we unsustainably ravage our most important lifeline, we reduce the amount of clean air and consumable food accessible to us, increasing health risks and ultimately costing governments even more money. With climate disasters raging on, rebuilding broken cities or countries will eventually cost millions or even billions. It is these same countries that insist they are in debt. One has to question where they’re hiding all this money required to continue fixing these broken cities. It just seems like adapting and protecting our natural environments is common sense – but apparently not.
The rate of deforestation over the past decade has resulted in the increase of carbon dioxide in the air, as well as flooding. According to the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, The Woodland Trust, woodlands in Britain hold up to 213 million tonnes of Carbon.
Trees in these woodlands act as canopy covers; leaves, branches, and trunks slow the rain before it hits the ground and naturally spread the effect of rainstorms that can last a long time. In addition, roots from trees also act as filtration systems that help water penetrate deep into the ground for trees absorb, meaning there is less water running across pavements, roads, and driveways.
Hence, trees are known to be a natural line of defense to an array of wildlife. Thus, planting more trees means we’ll be safer in the long term and breathe cleaner air – for free. Unless the Genetically Modified (GM) Groups get their hands on those trees first, that is. Then we’ll all be out of pocket and clean air.
Is adaptation a possibility?
Focusing on adaptation means considering increasing oceanic protection, developing micro-hydropower, parklands and woodland, preserving forested land and protecting wildlife so that they can flourish. Productive adaptation would also include supporting sustainable construction, optimising the energy efficiency of buildings on brownfield sites and the creation of eco-regions. However, these have much to do with policies and legislation for which Governments are responsible – so, it’s probably safe to assume that nothing will ever change then, right? It might be interesting to see who lobbies first, the meat or the construction industry.
After all, according to one of the world’s leading news organisations, The Financial Times, the UK seems to love the idea of ‘scrapping current laws in place that protect waterways to boost housebuilding.’ Maybe before scrapping current laws, it’s more important to detail the new protections that will be in place. However, the best excuse in the world would be developers arguing that ‘pollution of waterways caused by building works was dwarfed by the run-off from agriculture.’ Who would have thought the construction industry would throw the agriculture industry under the bus?
Final thoughts
Discussions about Climate Change and adaptation have been going on for decades – we should expect these discussions to continue for another 50 years. On the other hand, with news reported in The Guardian of young people taking nations to court, it’s likely to put a smile on many faces as Governments sweat it out a little. They’ll be forced to take responsibility for change. Having said that, a U-turn of key green targets by both parties in the UK leaves questions about what people really believe and want. After all, this move was only to garner votes.
So, maybe we should take the time to contemplate on the kind of world we want to know!