By Lisa Marshall
Ask a room full of experts for their solutions on addressing the climate crisis, and talk of promising new technologies often takes center stage.
Indeed, things like expanded solar and wind power and alternative transportation systems will play a critical role in mitigating some of the worst-case scenarios a warming planet could bring. But for those already living those scenarios, the time to adapt is now. It’s often the quieter, grass-roots strategies—like implementing new farming practices, financially empowering women and including the most vulnerable when making plans for the future—that can have a big impact, experts say.
According to a new survey by the World Economic Forum, more than half of adults on the planet believe climate change has already had a severe impact on their part of the world, and 35% fear it may force them from their homes in the next 25 years. In 2020 alone, weather-related events displaced 30 million people.
“The reality is, we have already warmed the planet a lot and we need to be thinking about a world where climate-related disruptions are the new steady state,” said sociologist Lori Peek, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Technical fixes are important, but they can only get us so far. We need social fixes, too.”
“The reality is, we have already warmed the planet a lot and we need to be thinking about a world where climate-related disruptions are the new steady state.”