The beginning of the environmental justice movement generated a decade of progressive by-partisan environmental legislation with a mitigation driven agenda. Mitigation can be seen through a variety of facets, like “using new technologies as renewable energies, making older equipment more energy efficient, or changing management practices or consumer behavior,” (Climate Change Mitigation). The motivation behind this climate mitigation push is the “observed impacts [that result] in the sensitivity to climate changes in many features of the ecosystem and the economy,” (Fields, Chris). This climate mitigation legislation is largely focused around lowering greenhouse gas emissions and many times market-based climate legislation can positively affect the domestic carbon footprint. Nearly two decades of international negotiation have led to the discussion that those nations who have failed to implement mitigation laws “attest to the numerous political, economic, technological, and practical difficulties in establishing a functional mitigation legal regime,”(Craig, Robin Kundis).
Humans have been adapting to changes in the Earth’s environment for thousands of years, constantly finding solutions that environmental obstacle challenged. Since the Industrial Revolution, our society’s fossil fuel exploitation, poor environmental legislation and capitalist economy has perpetuated the pollution of our environment through all aspects of life, for example: our food, cosmetics, transportation, energy supply, air and water quality, and our overall survival. “Global warming threatens human civilization so fundamentally that it cannot be understood as a straightforward pollution problem, but instead as an essential one. Its impacts will be so enormous that it is better understood as a problem of evolution, not pollution,” (Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger). Adaptation is the alteration of human practices in preparation for the vastly changing circumstances of our world, and ultimately to sustain life on earth.
Hawaii like many tropical regions is experiencing the full wrath of global climate change with a “rising sea level of 8 inches in the past 100 years as well as a doubled rate of warming in the last 50 years,” (Tacotaco, Jacquelyn). Global warming is an economic and security threat to the inhabitants of the islands with possibility of lost beaches, reefs and fresh water supply. The Hawaii Climate Change Adaptation Initiative Act “establish[es] a committee to address climate change adaptation statewide”( Tacotaco, Jacquelyn). This committee’s main role will be to “develop a sea-level rise and vulnerability report addressing statewide impacts until the year 2050.” It is becoming essential now more than ever, especially in these geographically vulnerable regions that are not protected by miles of coast land to prepare for the extreme and very real effects of climate change. If we hope to even have an idea of the endless beauty of Hawaii and the preservation of such a historic and rich culture, legislation like this House Bill are necessary to protect our state’s safety and sustainability.
http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/our-changing-climate/sea-level-rise
The main question is whether of the emergence of climate adaptation legislation is the new direction for our elected leaders or rather, is a fusion of the 2 approaches the most effective, necessary, and preventative step in battling the already seen effects of climate change. Is it naive to believe that even with the current political environment any progressive adaptation law making will be passed through Congress? Would it be wise to focus on one method for implementation instead of risking the possibility of spreading thin the environmental vote? It is unknown how society will react to this cultural shift and if they will have the capability to accept the extent of change. As discussed in the political arena there are a number of factors to consider when encouraging the implementation of these laws: “resources that might include knowledge finance, governance and institutional arrangement to facilitate coordination and effective leadership top down and the bottom up,” (Benjamin Preston).
Implementation
According to Robin Kurdis Craig's "Five Principle for Climate Change Adaptation Law" the governance must: "monitor and study everything all the time, eliminate or reduce non-climate change stresses and otherwise promote resilience, plan for long term with much increased coordination across media, sectors, interests and governments, promote principled flexibility in regulatory goals and natural resource management, and accept- really accept - that climate change adaptation will often be painful." The importance of tracking our progress and continuous evaluation of our climate's status as well as the joint efforts of proactive decision makers is critical to the success of this bill. Two necessary parts to successful climate change adaptation are "to adopt shared and over-arching principles that can apply in a variety of scenarios, and to change the law to remove existing barrier to, and to actively promote the implementation of, those principles in adaptation strategy," (Craig, Robin Kurdis). Because there is no foreseeable end to climate change it is critical to prepare for extreme weather patterns, super storms, and shortages of resources. I believe that mitigation efforts should not be completely forgotten but rather incorporated into the adaptation plan by providing the framework for a type of societal and culture alteration necessary for survival.
"Climate Change Mitigation." United Nations Environment Programme. United Nations Environment Programme, 1 Jan. 2003. Web. 5 Apr. 2015. <http://www.unep.org/climatechange/mitigation/>.
Craig, Robin Kundis. ""Stationary Is Dead"- Long Live Transformation: Five Principles for Climate Change Adaptation Law." Harvard Environmental Law Review 34 (2010): 9-73. Web. 4 Apr. 2015
Fields, Chris. "Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability." YouTube. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 30 Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMIFBJYpSgM>.
Preston, Benjamin. "Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability." YouTube. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 30 Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMIFBJYpSgM>.
Tacotaco, Jacquelyn. "Gov. Abercrombie Signs Climate Change Adaptation Bill." - Hawaii News Now. World Now, 9 June
2014. Web. 05 Apr. 2015.
Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger, Break Through: From the death of environmentalism to the politics of possibility 8 (2007)