Jacob Kline

Jacob Kline

ID: 1355922

GEOGY103-18A Environment and Society

Essay Template Assignment

Essay Question:

Discuss and give examples of the two overall approaches to global warming: mitigation and adaptation. Introduction:

Climate change is detrimental to humans, yet this phenomenon is caused by human activities. Climate change can be described as the change in long-term weather patterns caused by human activities trapping greenhouse gases within the atmosphere causing negative impacts and challenges to sustainable living and development. Climate change is one of the most severe challenges we will face in the 21st century due to the obvious negative impacts everyday destroying ecosystems, freshwater supply, and humans ourselves. This paper reviews the impacts of climate change on several subunits of the environment such as air, water, plants, animals and human beings, with a special emphasis on the economy, for this plays a major role most do not understand (S. Vijayavenkataraman, S. Iniyan, and Ranko Goic 2011, 878).

Discussion:

Walshe, Rory A., Denis Chang Seng, Adam Bumpus, and Joelle Auffray. 2018. "Perceptions of

Adaptation, Resilience and Climate Knowledge in the Pacific." International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management 10, no. 2. doi:10.1108/ijccsm-03-2017-0060.

Rory A. Walshe, Denis Chang Seng, Adam Bumpus, and Joelle Auffray claim that to successfully execute adaptation strategies, we need to understand the common knowledge of adaptation as well as understand different perceptions of climate change among different groups in society. Without this and a lack of research, our adaptation strategies will ultimately lead to failure. Little is known of how others perceive climate change, especially the highly vulnerable South Pacific region including Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu. Groups such as teachers, the media, and communities in society have their own opinions and beliefs, so in order to create effective and sustainable strategies for adaptation to climate change, we need to study these groups. An adaptation approach conducted so far has been to bring awareness to the local, community, and household levels instead of just a national level where many find the ideas alienating. Different areas have different effects, so not all solutions work in each location. This work is relevant for my essay because it brings a different view of becoming successful with adaptation towards climate change while providing significant evidence supporting the details provided. This article also provides an approach that could make a positive impact towards a solution, maybe one that others have not composed.

It also deals with a specific area of the world where local level evidence is provided with specific groups instead of just an overwhelming amount of national or global evidence.

Lal, R., J. A. Delgado, P. M. Groffman, N. Millar, C. Dell, and A. Rotz. 2011. "Management to

Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change." Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 66, no. 4 (Fall): 276-85. Accessed April 28, 2018. doi:dio:10.2489/jswc.66.4.279.

Management is a key factor to mitigation of climate change and those responsible for management decisions are farmers, consultants, and others relating to this field or work. The key components of climate change mitigation are the environment, finances, and policy factors. Obviously, the environment is being negatively affected, but finance is what will allow us to make changes to benefit the environment and all living within, as well as policy factors being changed and altered in a positive way for better living. Management of carbon, nitrogen, manure, and other low-input systems play a major role in mitigation of the environment because all of these factors are key components in living organisms. Those who are in control have big decisions to make that can have significant impacts, so understanding the cycles and how to manage these factors could lead to a positive way of mitigating climate change.

This work is relevant to my essay because it shows another aspect involved with solving climate change through mitigation and the management of many factors involved with this process. It looks at a different group of people where we can see yet another perspective and possibly another way towards a solution. Providing several pieces of evidence, this work targets agriculture which is the main source of our food supply and discusses its effects of soil, water, plants, and animals which are the main sources of life. Conclusion:

Mitigating and adapting to climate change is necessary, and urgent. Though this is a slow acting phenomenon, we need to act now. Solutions need to be created, managing techniques need to be put forth, and we as a society, nation, and world need to come together and figure out how to beat this and fix the world we live in. If we do not act now, our fresh water, our food, our air, our plants, our animals, us, gone.

Works Cited

S. Vijayavenkataraman, S. Iniyan, and Ranko Goic. 2012. "A Review of Climate Change, Mitigation and Adaptation." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16, no.1: 878-897. https://acelscdncom.ezproxy.waikato.ac.nz/S136403211100459X/1-s2.0S136403211100459X-main.pdf?_tid=27ab17a83b7f495dbf21e0d859423578&acdnat=1522216486_59822152f5a2513af71eedfa46e2878e