Are you pulling out all the stops to climate-proof your home? Have you installed ceiling fans, planted trees for shade and taken out flood insurance? It’s unlikely you have, according to a new study of household actions in the UK.
While we make simple actions to deal with a cold snap or heatwave, the research finds, households are struggling to prepare for long-term changes in climate.
What action can you take?
As global leaders prepare to convene in New York to discuss how to curb greenhouse gas emissions, a new paper discusses another side to limiting climate change – adaptation.
Adaptation means taking steps to increase our resilience against climate change that our past emissions have already committed us to, impacts that are now unavoidable.
The study, published in the journal Climatic Change, looks at adaptation measures people can take in their own homes. And the good news is, some actions are easy. You’ve probably done many without even realising. Putting on an extra jumper in a cold spell or eschewing the Sunday roast in favour of a salad during a heatwave are both adaptive responses.
Some actions aren’t as simple as changing your diet or dipping into your wardrobe, however.
The study looks reviews published research on climate adaptation in UK households and finds that while we’re pretty good at doing the easy things, we’re not so great at making plans for the long-term.
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