Adapting out west

Emilene Ostlind in High Country News: Drought, beetle kill, extended fire seasons, disappearing glaciers, early spring runoff—these signs of climate change flicker at the edge of Western life like the lightning flashes of an approaching summer storm. Late last month, the Western Governors’ Association, a nonpartisan organization that works with the governors of 19 western states and three U.S. territories, took a step to prepare for the impending hail with the publication of their new report, “Climate Adaptation Priorities for the Western States.”

As Michelle Nijhuis describes in her March 2006 High Country News story “Save Our Snow,” many communities across the West are taking measures to address the causes of climate change by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions through methane capture, public transit, renewable energy adoption, and more. But reducing emissions up front is only one strategy.

That’s where “climate adaptation” comes in. Climate adaptation means preparing for what many models now predict as the inevitable effects of climate change. Western states, the Western Governors’ Association report argues, are already leading the way on this sort of policy and will benefit from coordinating their efforts. For example, the state of Alaska created an interagency working group to help small villages that are imperiled by increasing flooding and erosion. In extreme cases, this group even relocates villages to new land….