By Anders Lorenzen
Dr Susannah Fisher, a climate scientist with the University College (UCL) in London, UK, focuses on climate adaptation. Earlier this year, she published her first book, ‘Sink or Swim – How the World Needs to Adapt to a Changing Climate.
Her premise with the book is to move climate adaptation up the priority agenda; it is impacting us right here and now, and any delay is costly.
For a Green Voices episode sat down with Susannah to discuss her book and her motivation for writing it.
You can purchase Sink or Swim here.
What’s holding back progress on climate adaptation?
What are the main barriers holding up progress on climate adaptation?
This was one of the questions that prompted the climate scientist to write the book. She explained:
“ I set out to write this book because I felt that adaptation is posing quite big political questions for the types of futures that we’re going to live under due to climate change.”
Watch the full interview on YouTube
A Greener Life, A Greener World speaks with climate scientist Dr Susannah Fisher.
Why Adaptation Matters
“Because we’re now in the situation where we have warmed enough, we’re always going to have to adapt, that there’s a certain amount of adaptation built into the system.”
Having worked in climate science for over twenty years, Fisher undertook a journey to uncover why climate adaptation is lagging behind and why it does not enjoy the same kind of attention as climate mitigation. This journey took her right from policy, to what actually happens on the ground, and what is national and local governments are doing with regard to putting in place climate adaptation measures.
Lessons from Sink or Swim
She underlined that due to years of inaction, climate adaptation is inevitable:
“Science shows us that the impacts are going to ask us to do things differently. Unless we start talking about that and opening up the conversation, there’s a risk that we’re going to leave people behind”
You can purchase Sink or Swim here.
Susannah explained that even though she is a UK-based scientist, her book is one that looks at the picture globally.
She said:
“I felt that there was a set of challenges that cut across a variety of places in the world, and of course, adaptation is context specific. It’s local, but I think the point of the book is to point out that that means many of the solutions will be local.”
The need for optimism
Susannah was keen to end our conversation on an optimistic note:
“I try and infuse some hope into these conversations because I think there’s a concern; it all becomes very doom and gloom. the position that I’m trying to come from is that lots of these futures are still open for citizens and voters and all of us to shape.”
You can watch the full conversation in Green Voices Episode 16 above.
Anders Lorenzen is the founding Editor of A greener life, a greener world.
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