Copenhagen’s Climate Change Choice….

 Mitigation, Adaptation or Suffering?

“We basically have three choices: mitigation, adaptation and suffering.  We're going to do some of each. The question is what the mix is going to be. The more mitigation we do, the less adaptation will be required and the less suffering there will be." John Holdren, the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The recent SSDF Autumn plenary, chaired by Rob Edwards, focused on the forthcoming United Nations Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen and the role Scotland has to play in addressing Climate Change.  The key speakers on the day included Pete Smith, Professor of Soils & Global Change at the University of Aberdeen who sits on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Judith Robertson, Head of Oxfam Scotland and Michael Northcott, Professor of Ethics at the University of Edinburgh. There were also a series of case studies on the practical and inspirational things that people in Scotland are doing to combat climate change.

The available speaker and case study presentations can be found below:

Speakers

Professor Pete Smith - 'Climate Change and Scotland - What can we do about it?'

Professor Michael Northcott - 'Energy, Equity and (Un)ethical emissions'

Case Studies

Robin Worsnop - Rabbies Trail Burners

Clive Bowman - Clim-ATIC

Anne Dzakovic - Kingsway Food Waste Recycling Project

The SSDF is currently producing a report on the discussions and will be made available on the website. It will be sent to influencers and decisions makers highlighting the importance of Copenhagen and Scotland’s role in getting agreement at the talks.