Module 3 / Lesson 8.4

Managing Climate Risk

2 min readVideo included

Strategies for mitigation, adaptation, and the controversial promise of geoengineering.

The Framework for Action

Learning: Watch the embedded videos to see how we might reduce the harm of climate change by targeting different parts of the pathway through which emissions lead to harm from climate change:
- Mitigation: Watch the video in section 8.4.1 to see how cutting methane targets Emissions.
- Adaptation: Watch both videos on adaptation to understand how we build resilience against Human Impact.
- Geoengineering: Watch both embedded videos on Geoengineering to see the risks and rewards of active climate intervention.

Reflection: Which strategy, Mitigation, Adaptation, or Geoengineering, do you think is the most "feasible" for humanity to implement right now, and which carries the highest risk of unintended consequences?

Recall Lesson 8.2: We identified a chain of three things that connect fossil fuel emissions to harm from climate change:

(1) Emissions: The amount of fossil fuels we burn.
(2) Climate Sensitivity: The degree to which a given amount of fossil fuels changes the climate
(3) Human Impact: The degree to which a changed climate harms people.

Two Levers for Managing the Risks and Harm of Climate Change

Targeting Source 1: Emissions
Goal: Lower emissions to lower global warming

Potential Policies: Carbon taxes, international treaties, and emission caps.
Potential Technologies: The "green transition" (cheap/effective solar, wind, nuclear, and battery storage/grid infrastructure).

Targeting Source 2: Limiting Impact of Emissions on Climate Change
Goal: Survival & Resilience

Geoengineering: Active intervention in the climate system (e.g., solar shields).

Targeting Source 3: Limiting Harm to People from Climate Change
Goal: Survival & Resilience

Adaptation: Moving cities, insulated homes, building on stilts, sea walls, and levees

8.4.1 Targeting Source 1: Emissions

Watch this video for one example of a way we could lower emissions of gases that contribute to global warming:

🎥 Learning: Reducing Methane Emissions

Watch on YouTube

8.4.2 Targeting Source 2: Geoengineering

If mitigation fails and adaptation isn't enough, we face the "Break Glass in Case of Emergency" options targeting symptoms directly.

The Risk: Cure or Disease? (Ord p. 113)
Geoengineering is controversial. It might stop warming but introduces new X-risks like "Termination Shock" or unintended weather pattern shifts.

Carbon Removal: Sucking CO2 out of the air (safe but expensive).
Solar Radiation Management (SRM):
- Satellite Blockers: Physical shields in space.
- Stratospheric Aerosols: Injecting sulphur dioxide to reflect sunlight.