It Will Be As If We Landed on a Different Planet?

David Wallis-Wells (editor at large New York magazine) suggests our current climate is 'the mildest and most benign we will ever see again' (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/01/adapt-or-die-that-is-the-stark-challenge-to-living-in-the-new-world-we-have-made). Wallis-Wells says we will need to 'adapt or die'. He notes that 'adaptation' was once viewed negatively. Many people saw 'adaptation' as being touted as alternative to cutting carbon emissions. Wallis-Wells is clearly convinced that we will need to do both. Even if we hit carbon zero today (and we are nowhere near that), the climate crisis will be with us. The simplest illustration is provided to the rising sea levels. Wallis-Wells suggests that around 50% of the world's current coastline will have to be abandoned. The remainder would have to be protected by enormous defensive structures, perhaps along with the generation of marshes and mangrove swamps. Pretty obviously, some parts of the world are much better placed (in terms of money and expertise) than others to put in place the needed major infrastructural changes. Wallis-Wells also notes that parts of Europe have got better at avoiding deaths by over-heating in heat waves (providing rehydration and cooling facilities). Even attempts to reduce 'greenhouse gas' emissions, will have infrastructural consequences. For example, creating new forested areas to absorb carbon, is likely to replace agricultural land. This will drive up food costs. Wallis-Wells is clearly convinced that GM technology will have to play a role in future food production. His rather sad (but seemingly realistic) conclusion is that we urgently need to get involved in both world building (adaptation) and world saving (emissions reductions). Whatever happens, what remains, will be like a different planet.