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Question:

Supposed you are living in a coastal city. The city administrator has noticed that the mean sea
level has been rising for the past 50 years. The raising is small but over a long period of time
it may cause problems in the city centre as the level of that part of the city is quite low. If you
are hired as a consultant, write a plan of action on what can be done to reduce or mitigate the
problems. The report must include Mitigation and Adaptation measures.

INTRODUCTION
Global warming refers to an unequivocal and continuing rise in the average temperature of
Earths climate system. Since 1971, 90% of the warming has occurred in the oceans. Despite
the oceans dominant role in energy storage, the term global warming is also used to refer
to increases in average temperature of the air and sea at Earths surface.
Global warming is caused by human activities that emit heat-trapping carbon dioxide has
raised the average global temperature by about 1F (0.6C) over the past century. In the
oceans, this change has only been about 0.18F (0.1C). Warming has occurred from the
surface to a depth of about 2,300 feet (700 meters), where most marine life thrives. Human
influence has been detected in warming of the atmosphere and the ocean, in changes in the
global water cycle, in reductions in snow and ice, in global mean sea level rise, and in
changes in some climate extremes.
Due to the warming, the ocean organism especially coral has been the most vulnerable
organism to temperature change. Other organism that could be affected by temperature
change includes krill, an extremely important link at the base of the food chain. Research has
shown that krill reproduce in significantly smaller numbers when ocean temperature rises.
Eventually, it could affect life cycle of krill eaters, such as penguins and and seals which in
turn causes food shortages for higher predators.

The global mean land-ocean temperature change from 1880-2013 as shown in the figure
above is relative to the 1951-1980 mean. The black line is the annual mean and the red line is
the 5-year running mean. The green bars show uncertainty estimates.


The map above shows the 10-year average (2000-2009) global mean temperature anomaly
relative to the 1951-1980 mean. The largest temperature increases are in the Arctic and the
Antartic Peninsula.

ACTION PLAN
There are different views over the appropriate policy response to climate change should be.
These competing views weigh the benefits of limiting emissions of greenhouse gases against
the costs. In general, it seems likely that climate change will impose greater damages and
risks in poorer regions. Now let start the action plan by reviewing the major causes of global
warming.

At the top half of the diagram, the threat of extinction is pictured. Global warming is seen to
be escalating into runaway global warming, to finally lead to wide-scale extinction. The
diagram also pictures a proposed three-part climate action plan with the necessary lines of
action in green and the recommended policies to combat this threat in the yellow field at the
bottom.
Several lines of action are needed to overcome this threat, for parallel implementation, as
pictured in the diagram below.

Any nation can start moving toward a more sustainable economy without need for prior
international agreements. In nations with both federal and state governments, they can direct
the federal departments and agencies to reduce their emissions for each type of pollutant
annually by a set percentage, CO
2
and CH
4
by 10%, and HFC
s
, N
2
O and soot by higher
percentages.
Such federal benefits could include building interstate High-Speed Rail tracks, adaptation and
conservation measures, management of national parks, R&D into batteries, ways to vegetate
deserts and other land use measurements. The fees can be rough calculated as the average of
fees that other states impose in successful efforts to meet their target. Similar targets could be
adopted elsewhere in the world, and each nation could similarly delegate responsibilities to
states, provinces and further down to local communities.
Apart from action to move to a more sustainable economy, additional lines of action are
necessary to reduce the danger of runaway global warming. Extra fees on international
commercial aviation could provide funding for ways to cool the Arctic. Their impact is
crossing borders and these additional lines of action will need ongoing research, international
agreement and cooperation.


Mitigation
Reducing the amount of future climate change is called mitigation of climate change.
Mitigation is also defined as activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or enhance the
capacity of carbon sinks to absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Studies indicate
substantial potential for future reductions in emissions by a combination of emission-
reducing activities such as energy conservation, increased energy efficiency, reduce air travel,
reduce motorized transportation as this has been the largest culprit in global warming causes,
and also reforestation.

Cycling could help in reducing motorized transportation as practiced in Brehmen City.

Use solar panel as energy source would be helpful in reducing electricity usage and thus
reduce the temperature surrounds the electricity tower.





Adaptation
Other policy responses include adaptation to climate change. Adaptation to climate change
may be planned, either in reaction to or anticipation of climate change, or spontaneous which
is without government intervention. Planned adaptation is already occurring on a limited
basis. The barriers, limits, and costs of future adaptation are not fully understood.
A concept related to adaptation is adaptive capacity which is the ability of a system (human
and natural) to adjust climate change to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of
opportunities or to cope with consequences. This includes upgrading drainage system, heat
alert system for road lighting, business continuity plan by creating another area with higher
ground, control of invasive species and disease control.

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