Introduction to Solutions
We’ve sectioned our solutions for climate adaptation into three distinct categories of solutions: Emergency Response, Long-term Preparation, and Prevention. Coastal communities must incorporate solutions from all three categories if they are to be prepared for the negative effects of climate change over the course of the next century. Emergency Response solutions detail short-term plans for coastal communities in the case of sudden disaster. Long-term Preparation solutions detail plans for consistent preparedness, gradually raising resistance to climate risks over the course of the coming century. Prevention solutions address direct mitigation of climate change, to detract from the severity of future climate risks.
Emergency Response
Climate change will lead to an increase in weather-related disasters. Therefore, it is important that communities properly prepare for immediate response during emergencies in order to reduce the associated climate risks. Solutions related to emergency response increase awareness of the risks associated with flooding, extreme weather, and high temperatures and create procedures for how to act during an emergency that are well known by the community.
Long-term Preparation
The threats associated with climate change are beginning to put numerous sectors of coastal communities, such as infrastructure, agriculture, and transportation, in danger. If current trends continue, these problems will only get worse over the coming decades. Long-term preparation solutions focus on reducing the vulnerabilities of these sectors.
Prevention
If climate change is allowed to continue without interference it is possible that our world would become uninhabitable. Preparation efforts alone are not capable of dealing with the threats caused by climate change. Therefore, preventive measures are a necessary part of preparing for climate change. Prevention solutions focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions especially carbon dioxide emissions. To learn more about how long-term mitigation of threats requires preventative action against climate change itself, click here.
Prioritization for Cambridge Solutions
Prioritizing solutions for climate resiliency requires in-depth consideration of many variables: feasibility, financial costs, magnitude of impact, urgency of risks addressed, and ease of implementation. Emphasizing the complexity of this prioritization is important to note in addition to understanding the unavoidable subjectivity involved with ranking majorly qualitative ideas relative to one another. Some proposals, such as renovations of MBTA stations and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, for example, are necessary solutions in the long-term, but not listed as high-priority items on account of the difficulty of implementation and high financial costs. The logic for prioritizing Green Space, Heat Wave Response, Efficient Emergency Transportation Plans, Carbon Tax, and Emergency Planning Education stems from these solutions’ low financial costs, high positive impacts, and general feasibility for implementation. Our Green Space solution, for example, is prioritized first due to its broad application to all four of Cambridge’s identified affected areas (Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy & Resources, and Public Health), its low initial costs and high returns, its physical ease of implementation, and its preventative impacts for climate change mitigation in addition to addressing resiliency. To clarify, we are not saying that Green Space is more important than Nuclear Reactor Preparation; rather, it’s a quicker and more feasible solution, taking into context cost and impact.
List of Prioritized Climate Resiliency Solutions:
- Green Space
- Heat Wave Response
- Efficient Emergency Transportation Plans
- Carbon Tax
- Emergency Planning Education
- NRL Safety Preparation for Flooding
- Net-Zero Buildings
- Renewables
- Adapting to Increasing Spread of Disease
- Reliable Back-Up Energy Systems
- External Flooding Barriers
- MBTA Stations
- Incorporating Drainage
- Water Resistant Utilities
- Addressing the Effects of Acid Rain
- Energy-efficient Heating and Cooling Systems
- Road Material
Importance of Climate Change Prevention Efforts for Cambridge
Considering the innovation and economic resources available to the Cambridge community, preventative measures against climate change are especially important for successful future mitigation of negative effects. As an urban region with significant industry, Cambridge produces a larger carbon footprint relative to less developed regions similar to southern Bangladesh. Understanding of the larger magnitude of impact Cambridge may have on the procession of climate change, especially considering the domino effect the city’s sustainable action could have on similar communities around the world, makes Prevention for Mitigation even more important for MIT’s host city.
Affected Areas for Cambridge
The entirety of Cambridge will be affected by climate change, but some sectors will have more drastic consequences than others. Based on vulnerability to the threats of climate change and importance to the lives and well-being of the people of Cambridge, we have identified four core areas that necessitate immediate action in terms of preparing the coastal community for climate change.
Public Health Infrastructure Transportation Energy and Resources