The final climate lesson: what we do about it. Two response types — mitigation (reduce the cause) and adaptation (live with the effects). The anchor case study is Costa Rica, a national success story. This is the “evaluate a response” chapter, so practise weighing effectiveness.
Every climate response is either mitigation or adaptation — know the difference.
Mitigation reduces the cause — cutting greenhouse-gas emissions and boosting carbon sinks. Adaptation reduces the harm from impacts we can no longer avoid — e.g. flood defences, drought-resistant crops.
The headline international mitigation effort — with real strengths and real limits.
Adopted in 2015, the Paris Agreement commits nations to hold global warming well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 °C. Nearly every country signed.
The catch: commitments (NDCs) are voluntary and self-set, with weak enforcement — and countries can withdraw (the USA announced withdrawal in 2017, then rejoined in 2021). Its effectiveness depends on countries actually delivering.
A verified global mitigation response — ideal for “evaluate effectiveness”. Concepts: sustainability, scale, interconnection.
SustainabilityScaleThe syllabus frames responses as “challenges and opportunities.” A strong answer holds both: the same problem (human ingenuity created fossil-fuel tech) also holds the solution (that ingenuity can decarbonise).
How emissions actually get cut — and carbon removed.
A balance where the greenhouse gases emitted equal the amount removed by sinks — the target of national plans (e.g. Costa Rica, the UK).
Australian examples: large-scale solar (e.g. the Bungala Solar Project, SA) and rooftop solar cut power emissions; EV uptake is rising. A striking innovation: a red-seaweed (Asparagopsis) cattle supplement, developed with CSIRO research and commercial partners (including the Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation in SA), can cut livestock methane substantially.
Reported methane cuts from Asparagopsis vary widely by trial (lab figures up to ~80–90%+; real feedlot results are lower). Quote it as “a large reduction” and cite CSIRO/FutureFeed rather than a single dramatic percentage.
Some change is locked in — so we must also adapt. But adaptation has limits.
Adaptation examples: the Netherlands uses floating homes and world-leading flood defences to live with rising seas. But adaptation can't save everywhere.
Tuvalu is a low-lying Pacific island nation acutely threatened by sea-level rise — losing land and freshwater. It has used its UN membership to push for global action and has raised the prospect of its citizens becoming climate refugees if the islands become uninhabitable. For Tuvalu, mitigation by others matters more than any local adaptation.
Shows adaptation's limits and the equity dimension — a nation that emitted almost nothing faces existential risk. Concepts: sustainability, interconnection, scale.
SustainabilityInterconnectionThe syllabus's anchor case — a small nation punching above its weight.
Costa Rica generates around 99% of its electricity from renewables (hydro, wind, geothermal) — e.g. the wind farms at Tilarán. Its National Decarbonisation Plan targets net-zero, with steps like electric buses. Remarkably, it reversed deforestation: forest cover fell sharply late last century, then recovered to over half the country through reforestation and payments for ecosystem services. Ecotourism ties conservation to the economy.
A verified, multi-strand national response combining mitigation (renewables, EVs) and carbon sinks (reforestation) with economic benefit (ecotourism). Concepts: sustainability, environment, interconnection, change.
SustainabilityEnvironmentChangeIt lets you show mitigation and carbon-sink and economic strands in one place — and evaluate: strengths (near-total renewable power, reforestation) vs context (small population, hydro-rich geography — not every country can copy it).
Figures move: Costa Rica's renewable-electricity share hovers near (but not always exactly) 99%, and forest-cover figures vary by source/year. Quote approximate figures and cite (e.g. government/ICE, World Bank).
Check you can do these — you've now finished Chapter 13.
That completes Chapter 13 (Climate Change). Chapter 14 examines a contemporary hazard — bushfires — as the focus area's final study, including cultural burning and the 2019–20 Black Summer fires.
Everything in this chapter traces to a source you can check. Watch the explainer, read the primary sources, follow the news, and practise the geographical skills this chapter uses.