A few days ago, I discussed the White House’s comprehensive
report on potential climate change impacts on the United States.
After the release of the report, the White House solicited
questions via Twitter. One of the questions we received which
seemed particularly worth addressing was: "Is attention turning
to adaptation rather than mitigation?" Thanks for this question.
The bottom line is that we need both. The more we are able to
limit the magnitude of climate change through mitigation
measures (such as energy efficiency initiatives, or switching to
energy sources that do not use fossil fuel, or that use less of
it), the more likely is that adapting to the impacts of climate
change will be more feasible and less costly. However, because
we are already seeing some of the impacts of climate change, as
the report "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States"
outlines, we know that some adaptation is already necessary and
more will be needed. So the report highlights both the need for
rapid and aggressi