This post is part of my series on the local actions needed to take on climate change. Go here to read the introduction.
Adapting to a changing climate is something that every one of us will have to get used to in the coming years. The locked-in changes that are coming aren't going to be easy to deal with, but if we all work together and stop pretending it doesn't even exist, we can come out the other side with a more healthy, sustainable, and just society.
Change isn't easy. The climate is changing in ways we have never experienced. The changes we need to make in response to our climate are going to require cooperation between all aspects of society. Because it is a necessary change, we should act now instead of reacting later. We need to truly come together - churches, businesses, schools, and government working collaboratively. This is the only way that real society-wide change can occur. Top-down orders from government aren't readily accepted by a significant portion of society, resulting in resentment and rejections, but if all affected factions are included in the decision-making process, the chance of successful change grows proportionately to the level of input they're afforded. Creating a sense of ownership and investment in one's society fosters a connection to its success.
The focus of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and most Western governments has been on big picture stuff, like the concentration of carbon dioxide in the environment and what the average effects will be throughout the world. While very important, this focus has abstracted the problem to the point that most people are unaware of how their individual lives and communities will be affected by the coming changes. Some areas will see more rain, or more droughts, or those by the ocean will need to prepare for rising sea levels, and on and on. The general trend of rising temperatures will have vastly different effects in each locality. The responsibility to prepare each community will ultimately fall to that community. Infrastructure decisions are made at the state, county, and city levels, not by international treaties. For example, deciding the location and height to build a levee in response to projected increases in flood frequency and size is going to depend on that local government getting the most accurate information from climate science. One encouraging trend is the development of local projection models, as discussed in my previous blog post here, that will allow communities to plan more specifically for their unique challenges ahead.
If we can get communities involved, city by city, in their own plans for adaptation and reducing greenhouse gases, we will take a big step toward a sustainable future. Eighty percent of the US population lives in cities. That means that 80% of the country could enact comprehensive climate policy without having to wait on national politics to finally get a comprehensive plan in place. Obviously, we need a national plan as soon as possible in order to send a signal to the rest of the world that we will take responsibility and act, but we have waited for this for too long. We need to act now, wherever we can, and to me that power currently lies at the level of the city.
Grassroots campaigns in each voting district can make this happen - elect politicians who believe in a sustainable future, and hold them accountable to doing just that.
