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How Climate Change Are Getting Worse, Is It Better For The United States?

Decent Essays

Lessons 1 and 3 (750 words): Using both the Smith et al. (2009) article from Lesson 1 and the Repetto (2008) article from Lesson 3, answer the following question: if the impacts of climate change are getting worse, is it better for the United States to rely on reactive adaptation or on anticipatory adaptation? In your discussion, you must define both reactive and anticipatory adaptation. Support your answer with examples from course content, the readings, or other non-course scholarly sources. 

“Adaptation is defined by the IPCC as the adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects that moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. Various types of adaptation can be distinguished, including anticipatory and reactive adaptation, private and public adaptation, and autonomous and planned adaptation. ”
Reactive adaptation refers to adaptation that take place after impacts of climate change are observed. It is the immediate response to climate change. This type of adaptation is often used in recovery. Reactive adaptation is needed in disaster recovery, emergency respond and so on. Sometimes it is not the best response when the past knowledge doesn 't match current environmental and socio-economic situations. However, people noticed that only reactive adaption is not efficient enough to deal with climate change, especially for irreversible damages such as ecosystems that cannot be recovered and extinction

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