Great Adaptations – In the Shadow of a Climate Crisis – by Morgan Phillips

Environmental blogger Anders Lorenzen presents his pick for Book of the Month. Following the heatwaves that have swept through Europe this summer, the choice is of Morgan Phillips’ Great Adaptations – In the Shadow of a Climate Crisis.

Some people may have welcomed the heat and sun we recently received across Europe. However, in many parts of the continent, this early heatwave was unprecedented with serious economic and health implications.

As the climate continues to warm, not even Europe is shielded from the impacts, and the feeling that summers are getting warmer, longer and more tropical is no longer just a feeling but an undeniable fact. European cities, and in particular the bigger ones like London, have a serious task at hand in adapting to climate change.

Therefore, this month there could not be a more poignant book to look at than Morgan Phillips’ Great Adaptations – In the Shadow of a Climate Crisis.

Phillips sets out by making it clear that it is not simply the case that we need to adapt to some level of climate change, but it is how we do it, how well we are able to do it and what it will cost which are the key defining questions.

AS IMPORTANT AS CLEAN ENERGY

While the issue around adaptation is technical and does not have the same trendy swag as the clean energy transition, it is at least as critical; as no matter how much clean energy we install, we have to adapt to changes already coming our way. Phillips points out that while there are many core social issues to adaptation, such as social justice, it would be wrong to ignore the economic consequences too.

What is recommendable about Phillips’ book is that he has condensed such a complex issue as adaptation into a short, easily accessible book, perfect for reading on the go.

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

You may wonder what a book about climate adaptation is doing in a publication that mainly talks about the cleantech and energy revolution and transformation? The answer is that if we get adaptation right and choose the right things to innovate, it will create millions of green jobs globally. For instance, take the twinned opportunities to climate-proof our buildings so that they both vastly reduce emissions and become able to withstand temperature increases and protect against a variety of extreme weather even Just one example of the vast subject matter there is to ponder on this issue, and which this book encourages thought upon.