Five Big Ways the United States Will Need to Adapt to Climate Change

This article by Brad Plumer, raises many difficult to swallow steps that America will need to take in the decades ahead in order to adapt and survive during climate change and the inevitable disasters it will cause.  Rethinking how we farm is a major step, yet this is a step that is already being worked on and innovated as we speak. Alternative protein sources and lab-grown substitutes are already on the market and becoming more accessible as the days go on, it’s only a matter of time till America full accepts these alternatives, but the fact this change is already in motion is a good sign. Building for the future is another major step, but a step that has only just become relevant, as speculative design and design for the worst case scenario is only now being taught and advocated. This step will take some time before it is understood in society, as it takes some major rewiring and changes in thinking to plan for a future that doesn’t exist, instead of designing based on the past, which society is built upon (the past). Retreating from the coasts is an inevitable and sad fact of the reality we live in. I was exposed to this sad reality pretty recently as my family has a beach house on the great ocean road on the coast of Australia. Here I saw The Twelve Apostles, a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, crumble one by one everytime I went to visit. This was a vivid and honest portrayal of the impact climate change is having on the world, and this change has happened in only a matter of years. Moving away from the coasts is a smart and practical step to take, especially with rising sea levels.  Enlisting nature to help is a great method to control the destruction of climate change. It’s been proven that certain fungai can clean up oil spills and toxic waste, and trees can help clean the atmosphere. With many companies creating tree-planting benefits or systems to encourage awareness and participation in trying to slow down the damage of climate change, it’s increasingly apparent that people are beginning to care and they are wanting to give back to mother earth by helping rebuild and replace what we took from it, as well as using it to help us repair our damages. Of course, all these steps are just speculative, and only time will tell if these will actually help in the long run. All I can say is that these steps are definitely a step in the right direction.