Event Title
Location
Windsor, Ontario
Start Date
24-6-2021 12:00 AM
End Date
25-6-2021 12:00 AM
Description
Any changes in climate prior to the 19th century are attributed to natural causes, largely due to external factors. However, since 1992 such natural climate changes have been defined as climate variabilities by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Modern changes in climate, using the same framework, are presumed to be caused by human activities, especially from the emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) generated from the combustion of fossil fuels. Subsequently, instead of humans finding ways to adapt to changes in climate by such measures as migration, precipitation harvesting, flood prevention, and irrigation, mitigation has become the approach to reducing the harmful effects of climate change with the main focus being on reducing Carbon Dioxide emissions by energy use transitions to renewable and sustainable sources such as solar, wind, and water. The overall aim of mitigation being, not only to reduce anthropogenic impacts on climate, but also to eventually end them and, maybe, even reverse their effects. But can mitigation eradicate non-human climate variabilities? If GHG emissions are removed from the atmosphere will that prevent volcanic activity, earthquakes, cryosphere melting, extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and the orbital effects of Milankovitch cycles? The probability of mitigation counteracting the natural effects of volcanoes, earthquakes, and orbital causes, range from unrealistic to impossible. However, climate models suggest that mitigation inhibits ice melts, reduces the number and severity of weather events, restricts, or eliminates, sea-level rises, and limits increases in land and ocean surface temperatures. But how long will it take for mitigation to fulfil its promise? In the meantime, should adaptation measures be encouraged to constrain the harmful effects of both natural and anthropogenic climate drivers? In this short paper, a background discussion about whether mitigation or adaption should be pursued separately, or in an efficacious combination, is introduced.
Included in
Mitigate or Adapt?
Windsor, Ontario
Any changes in climate prior to the 19th century are attributed to natural causes, largely due to external factors. However, since 1992 such natural climate changes have been defined as climate variabilities by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Modern changes in climate, using the same framework, are presumed to be caused by human activities, especially from the emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) generated from the combustion of fossil fuels. Subsequently, instead of humans finding ways to adapt to changes in climate by such measures as migration, precipitation harvesting, flood prevention, and irrigation, mitigation has become the approach to reducing the harmful effects of climate change with the main focus being on reducing Carbon Dioxide emissions by energy use transitions to renewable and sustainable sources such as solar, wind, and water. The overall aim of mitigation being, not only to reduce anthropogenic impacts on climate, but also to eventually end them and, maybe, even reverse their effects. But can mitigation eradicate non-human climate variabilities? If GHG emissions are removed from the atmosphere will that prevent volcanic activity, earthquakes, cryosphere melting, extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and the orbital effects of Milankovitch cycles? The probability of mitigation counteracting the natural effects of volcanoes, earthquakes, and orbital causes, range from unrealistic to impossible. However, climate models suggest that mitigation inhibits ice melts, reduces the number and severity of weather events, restricts, or eliminates, sea-level rises, and limits increases in land and ocean surface temperatures. But how long will it take for mitigation to fulfil its promise? In the meantime, should adaptation measures be encouraged to constrain the harmful effects of both natural and anthropogenic climate drivers? In this short paper, a background discussion about whether mitigation or adaption should be pursued separately, or in an efficacious combination, is introduced.