Adaptation Not a Priority
The federal government's priority is to help northerners reduce greenhouse gas emissions rather than adapt to climate change, Environment Minister John Baird says.
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"Certainly adaptation is a significant challenge," he said. "It's obviously got to be part of any initiative but we can't set our sites away from the need to reduce greenhouse gases, the need to tackle climate change head on, which is obviously the most urgent priority."
Given the great amount of effort they've put into climate change so far, urgency isn't the adjective that comes to mind. Political expediency is closer to the truth.
Although he has "certainly been told about the schools that are beginning to shift because of the permafrost melting and the huge impact on public infrastructure and highways," Baird said these things have to be balanced against the need to slow down climate change.
If all you're going to do is slow down climate change and not try and stop it, then adaptation becomes even more important, not that any of our current leaders are far-sighted enough to realize that. Sound bites for the next election are about as far as they think ahead.
In the meantime, living on permafrost along the coastline, I guess I'll read the fine print on my home insurance to see if, "collapse due to foundation melting" is covered.
