It’s Time To Adapt To Climate Change, Scientists Say

In the United States, most of the debate over climate change is focused on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But some environmentalists say we’re talking too much about how to prevent our climate from changing — and not enough about how to adapt to change that’s already here.

Robert Repetto spends a lot of time thinking about how different our climate will be in a few years. He’s a retired environmental economist from Yale University who says there’s already so much greenhouse gas in the atmosphere that the consequences are inevitable.



ROBERT REPETTO: Warmer waters are going to lead to more red tide. Snows are melting earlier and faster, which means some of our rivers are going to experience more flooding. In the summer, there’s going to be more smog, more mosquitoes.

That bug-filled picture is just a sampling of what’s to come. Scientists find it difficult to predict exactly how the climate will change.

But the Union of Concerned Scientists projects that fishing grounds off Cape Cod could disappear as ocean temperatures rise. Fruit crops in the Massachusetts that need long chills to grow, such as apples, cranberries, and blueberries, could stop producing as winters get warmer. And New England ski resorts may not get enough snow.

Repetto says public and private groups need to adapt to climate change rather than just work on stopping or slowing it.

WBUR