Chapter 11 discussed the three options we have to address climate change: adaptation, mitigation, and geoengineering. Adaptation will, by necessity, be an important part of our response to climate change. However, relying entirely on adaptation as our only response to climate change is fraught with problems. Geoengineering is another possibility, but one that few people think should be used now. Rather, it is the last resort – like an airbag in a car – that you turn to if other approaches to address climate change fail.

The other option is mitigation – the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions so as to avoid climate change – and there is general agreement by most people who have seriously looked at the problem that we should be embarking on mitigation efforts right now. Mitigation schemes will have little effect on the climate of the next few decades, but a successful mitigation effort would allow us to avoid large climate changes occurring in the second half of this century and beyond.