Polarity

Adaptation to climate change is often presented as opposed to mitigation. Proponents of mitigation, the historical pole, believe that allocating budgets to adaptation is detrimental to mitigation and betrays sustainability objectives. Proponents of adaptation believe that it is too late to significantly mitigate climate change and propose solutions to make it more bearable. At the extreme end of this spectrum are proponents of technology, who are convinced that we can adapt to all changes through technical innovation alone. This technosolutionism, a derivative of adaptation, reflects an overconfidence in technology.

These are not opposing strategies, but two ways of tackling the same problem, each at one end of the spectrum of possible responses. When polarity arises, it is a sign that a balance needs to be struck. The challenge is no longer to choose, but to invent solutions that are both mitigating and adaptive.