Ways to Address Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

What is Mitigation? To prevent the worsening of destruction To decrease force or intensity. To lower risk. Earthquake mitigation Build buildings to withstand shaking better Flood mitigation Build dams to hold back overflowing rivers Climate change mitigation Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

What is Adaptation? Reacting or changing to fit the new circumstance Coping with impacts that cannot be avoided Examples: farmers planting different crops for different seasons wildlife migrating to more suitable habitats as the seasons change. Building levees against sea level rise

"Mitigation helps us avoid the unmanageable, while adaptation helps us manage the unavoidable." A clever colleague once said