Imagine you’re on a sailboat. Water has started to leak into your boat. Luckily, you caught it early, so you have options. You could find and patch the leaks or turn your boat around and head for land. Either way, putting on rubber boots to keep your feet dry would make sense.

Mitigation vs. adaptation

Although few of us will sail a sinking ship, we all live with climate change. Climate change is the long-term heating of the Earth’s climate due to human activities. It can happen naturally or in response to human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are natural fuels that form over long periods of time. They include oil, gas, and coal. Burning these fuels creates greenhouse gases, which trap heat at the Earth’s surface. The trapped heat causes global temperatures to rise.

Climate change is serious. But there are many solutions available. Some of these solutions mitigate the effects of climate change. Mitigation refers to the actions taken to reduce the scale of a problem (such as stopping water from leaking into your ship). Climate change mitigation involves reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to slow the effects of climate change. Climate change adaptation is how we change our behavior to protect people, places, and ecosystems from climate change.

Climate change mitigation strategies have one of two goals. Some mitigation strategies aim to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we create. Others involve collecting and storing greenhouse gases. Mitigation solutions include using more renewable energy instead of nonrenewable energy. Renewable energy sources replenish themselves. The wind and sun are examples of renewable energy. Mitigation is also a major part of climate change goals. One example is the global effort to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

Climate change adaptation plans are often different in different communities. That’s because every region is affected by climate change differently. Plus, every community has different resources available to them. Adaptation strategies focus on the following goals:

1. Reducing vulnerability—A vulnerability is a weakness. Reducing vulnerability means strengthening a community’s response to a disaster. For example, a community facing sea-level rise could replant coastal wetlands. These wetlands could protect the coastline from storms.
2. Increasing resilience—Resilience is the ability to deal with and bounce back from problems. Many plans that reduce vulnerability also increase resilience. A community facing rising sea levels could move its important buildings, such as power plants, to higher ground. This would make the community more resilient to floods.
3. Expanding adaptive capacity—This goal involves learning to respond to disasters. Communities could teach people to protect their homes from flooding, for example. They could also make an escape plan if disaster strikes. These steps would expand adaptive capacity.

Adaptation comes in many forms. It might mean building flood-resistant buildings in low-lying areas. It might mean providing air conditioners to deal with extreme heat. Communities could expand their forests and natural areas. They might even move away from frequent disaster zones.

Where do mitigation and adaptation meet?

Mitigation and adaptation have a lot in common. Of course, how much adaptation is needed depends on how much mitigation we achieve. Some climate change plans also improve both mitigation and adaptation.

Replanting wetlands is one such example. Wetlands can be a form of mitigation since wetlands pull greenhouse gases from the air and store them. But planting wetlands can also be a form of adaptation. That’s because plants help protect coastlines from storm damage.

However, some forms of adaptation might reduce mitigation efforts. It can work the other way around, too. Take air conditioners, for example. Many places are too hot for people to survive without them. But more air conditioners mean more electricity demand and most electricity still comes from burning fossil fuels. Mitigation and adaptation strategies are often closely interconnected.

Adaptation, mitigation, or both?

So, should we put all our efforts into adapting to climate change? Or should we focus on mitigation to reduce emissions as quickly as possible? Well, the fact is that we need to do both.

There’s no one climate change solution. Climate change happens on a scale. And as global temperatures rise, its effects change dramatically. At 1.5 degrees C of warming, 14 percent of the world will face a severe heatwave every five years. At 2 degrees C of warming, that percentage more than doubles to 37 percent. At 1.5 degrees C of warming, the average drought will last around two months. At 2 degrees C, it is four months. These differences will determine whether communities and the environment can recover.

If we mitigate emissions now, we will need less adaptation in the future. But we can’t focus only on mitigation— we also need adaptation plans. Climate change is already affecting people across the globe. Communities are experiencing dangerous storms, drought, and flooding right now.

We are also seeing that climate change does not affect us all equally. Those hit hardest by the effects of climate change are often the least responsible for it. They also often have fewer resources to protect themselves. Adaptation solutions are needed on a practical and moral level. If we delay adaptation, the most exposed communities will face the worst climate change effects. This would be highly unfair.

As the captain of a leaking ship, you have much to do. You must focus on addressing the causes of the leak and preparing for its long-term effects. The same is true for addressing climate change. We need both mitigation and adaptation solutions. Understanding their connection will enable us to create a strong, sustainable, and fair future.