COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 19 Holland’s current research is looking at how to increase the justness of decision processes and political power. “The people most vulnerable to climate harms must have the political capability to influence climate adaptation decisions in their communities,” she says. One meaningful change that she’d like to see is to prohibit powerful groups from making a decision that will push the costs of inaction onto a future generation. She points to work by colleague David Casagrande in the sociology and anthropology department and his study of a community on Smith Island in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, to illustrate this idea. On Smith Island, a number of residents wanted to adapt to the rising sea levels that are inundating the island. The government was considering an initiative to help them relocate to a more stable location. But, another group of residents, who were against adaptation, wielded more power and convinced government officials to shore up the roads instead—a temporary solution that will punt the costs and consequences of inaction to others and a move Holland feels should be prohibited in decision making about climate adaption. “We need to ensure powerful groups can’t influence decision processes that externalize the costs of not adapting to climate change to future people,” she says. The Future of Climate Action The experts agree that what the world really needs is a large-scale, global commitment to climate mitigation. But, we’re not likely to see bipartisan support for significant climate action anytime soon in the United States. Instead, there will likely be more piecemeal efforts to adapt to environmental issues—and a lot more conflict. Congress did pass the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which included $369 billion for climate solutions and environmental justice. Holland points out, though, that it passed without a single Republican vote and Democrats needed to use procedural tactics to advance it through the legislative process. It is one of the few environment-related bills that Congress has passed in the last four decades. “Climate policy seems hopeless,” says Holland. “It’s highly politicized, and there is a lot of vested interest in inaction. Even when Democrats had a super-majority, they couldn’t pass meaningful legislation.” In lieu of major governmental action, the Lehigh experts shared a few insights about alternative methods to deal with the climate crisis. The conservation community is already considering new approaches to climate change, says Booth, which also involve adaptation. The longstanding model of conservation work has involved attempting to maintain ecosystems or restore them to a former state prior to major human impact. As more and more ecosystems see radical change, conservationists and natural resource managers are starting to reconsider climate change responses. Now, instead of aiming to maintain ecosystems in their present state, more are thinking about how to adapt ecosystems to climate change and how to make ecosystems more resilient, and, in some cases, how to direct ecosystem change into an entirely new ecosystem. “It’s a very different way of thinking about conservation,” says Booth. Holland believes that a carbon budget, which would apply limits to each individual’s carbon footprint, should be enforced. This might involve things like capping private jet trips for the most carbon-consuming humans. She describes this idea as one that’s informed by social justice, as it places the burden on the most privileged members of society, who are using carbon for individual gain in a way that’s hurting the global community and disproportionately affecting the disadvantaged. Sahagian believes there needs to be a greater call to action that people can answer on an individual level. As a society, we are not living in a sustainable way, he says, and we need to adjust our behavior and our values to be more considerate of the future of our planet—and the future generations that will inhabit it. “We need to reduce consumption of all things, especially energy,” he says. “Don’t throw away clothes because you think they’re out of fashion. We are stuck in a cycle of consumptive thinking, and we have to get out of that mindset and, instead, recycle, reduce and reuse in the broader sense—for everything from material goods to energy sources.” Holding onto a pair of pants for a few extra years isn’t going to solve the climate crisis, of course, but Sahagian argues for a societal mindset shift to be more focused on the future state of the planet and how consumptive behavior threatens it. “We all need to be willing to do something,” he says. “We need to be willing to do something that we might not see the immediate impact of right away, but that will help future generations. It’s very difficult for people to invest time, effort or money into something when they don’t see the benefit from it right away. But, that’s the climate action we need more than anything else.” ●
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