Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyWeather, climate and a warming world25 min★★★ difficulty

Managing climate change: mitigation and adaptation

There are only two things you can do about climate change: emit less, or cope better. Almost every policy you will ever read about is one or the other, and the best answers say which.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Human and physical geography: Understand the use of natural resources, including energy, food, minerals and water
  • Human and physical geography: Understand how human and physical processes interact to influence, and be influenced by, climate change

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Compare strategies that reduce emissions with strategies that manage consequences.

Key learning points

  • • Mitigation: cutting the cause
  • • Adaptation: managing the effect
  • • Weighing the strategies
  • • Scales of action

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 21 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

strategiesreduceemissionsmanageconsequences

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 21 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 21

Managing climate change: mitigation and adaptation illustrationVisual introduction

Picture this

Managing climate change: mitigation and adaptation

There are only two things you can do about climate change: emit less, or cope better. Almost every policy you will ever read about is one or the other, and the best answers say which.

In a nutshell

Compare strategies that reduce emissions with strategies that manage consequences.

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 21

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Mitigation: cutting the cause

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 21

Learn

Mitigation: cutting the cause

Renewable and low carbon energy such as wind, solar, hydro, tidal and nuclear replaces coal and gas generation. Improved insulation, heat pumps and efficient appliances cut demand. Electrifying transport and improving public transport reduce oil use. Afforestation and peatland restoration lock carbon back into ecosystems. Carbon capture and storage and international agreements setting national targets try to make the change happen at the scale required.

4

Reset break

Part 4 of 21

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 5 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 21

Learn

Adaptation: managing the effect

Adaptation accepts a degree of change and prepares for it: flood barriers and raised buildings in coastal cities, drought-resistant and faster-maturing crop varieties, water metering and reservoir management, changed planting calendars, urban tree planting and reflective roofs to reduce heat, and managed retreat where defending a coastline is no longer affordable.

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 21

Quick check

Which is a mitigation strategy?

Give me a hint
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Quick check

Part 7 of 21

Quick check

Which is an adaptation strategy?

Give me a hint
8

Reset break

Part 8 of 21

Pause

That's sitting 2 of 5 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
9

Learning cycle

Part 9 of 21

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Weighing the strategies

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

10

Explore the idea

Part 10 of 21

Learn

Weighing the strategies

Mitigation attacks the cause and benefits everyone, but it is slow, expensive up front and requires countries that emit least to be helped by those that emit most. Adaptation delivers protection to a specific place quickly, but it does nothing to stop warming and the wealthiest places adapt best, which widens inequality. Serious policy uses both: mitigate to limit how bad it gets, adapt to survive what is already locked in.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 21

Learn

Scales of action

International agreements set targets and finance. National governments tax, subsidise and legislate, for example ending sales of new petrol cars or funding offshore wind. Local councils run recycling, cycle lanes and tree planting. Individuals choose diet, flights, heating and consumption. A strong evaluation notices that individual action alone cannot deliver the scale needed, but public pressure changes what governments can pass.

12

Reset break

Part 12 of 21

Pause

That's sitting 3 of 5 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
13

Quick check

Part 13 of 21

Quick check

A criticism of relying on adaptation alone is that

Give me a hint
14

Quick check

Part 14 of 21

Quick check

Why is international agreement needed for mitigation?

Give me a hint
15

Explore the idea

Part 15 of 21

Worked example

Worked answer: 'Adaptation is a more realistic response to climate change than mitigation.' Evaluate (9 marks)

For: some warming is already locked in by past emissions, so places must adapt regardless; adaptation delivers measurable protection quickly and can be funded locally, for example flood defences or drought-tolerant crops. Against: adaptation treats the symptom, so if emissions continue the cost of adapting rises without limit, and poorer countries that contributed least can least afford it, making the response unjust. Compare: mitigation is slower and needs international cooperation that has often fallen short, but only mitigation stops the problem growing. Judgement: adaptation is realistic in the short term and necessary everywhere, but it is only sustainable alongside mitigation, so the statement is true about timescale and false about long-term effectiveness.

16

Reset break

Part 16 of 21

Pause

That's sitting 4 of 5 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 21

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

18

Challenge round

Part 18 of 21

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Electrifying transport and improving public transport ____ oil use.

19

Challenge round

Part 19 of 21

Game · Recall cards

Rainforest soils are often…

Card 1 of 4

20

Mastery quiz

Part 20 of 21

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Managing climate change: mitigation and adaptation

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Rainforest soils are often…

  2. 2. Selective logging means…

  3. 3. A good impact answer includes…

  4. 4. Why can a new road cause forest loss beyond its own route?

21

Lesson round-up

Part 21 of 21

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

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Games

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Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Part 1 of 21 · Watch & discover

How this is going

  • Not looked at yet

    Understand the use of natural resources, including energy, food, minerals and water

  • Not looked at yet

    Understand how human and physical processes interact to influence, and be influenced by, climate change

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