With the cold weather quickly approaching, it is hard to imagine global warming taking place. Last Wednesday evening, Nov. 12, eight graduate students from Kay William’s Problems of the Atmospheric Environment graduate class held a debate titled “Climate Change: Adaptation or Mitigation?”

The debate took place in Shippensburg University’s Old Main Chapel. The discussion consisted of four rounds. In the first round, each panel introduced its side. The adaptation side listed some of the changes that have been made thus far, such as using levees and pump systems along with reconstruction in flooded areas.

The mitigation side, however, mentioned transitioning to renewable resources like nuclear power, hydropower and biomass energy. The panelists also recommended a cap trade in which people would have to purchase permits for carbon.

Ultimately, both sides saw a need for change. “We cannot leave an unstable world for our descendants,” mitigation captain Matthew Kime said.

The next round was cross-examination. Mitigation members brought up the point that despite the attempts with seawalls and levees there have been failures, as seen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
They also responded to the adaption panel’s requests to relocate.

“If you move the population you are going to run out of property, which will affect our crops. It will increase disease rates since the population density is so high,” mitigation panel member Eve Webster said.

Adaptation panel member Abdul Ahmed Saidou opened up his team’s cross-examination with the question, “Do you think the Kyoto Protocol is still effective?”

According to the United Nations, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Japan in December of 1997 as a way to set emission targets for industrialized nations. However, as Saidou mentioned, these goals are not being met.

After the battle, the co-captains went up to the podium to review and summarize their sides again.

Mitigation reinforced the idea of renewable resources. Currently, hydropower is second to fossil fuels as the most abundant energy source. According to mitigation co-captain, Brett Gildner, hydropower fuels 7 percent of the country’s energy.

Gildner also mentioned how China is planning on adding more nuclear power plants.

“As a species we have adapted to climate change ever since the ice age,” adaptation co-captain, Steve Cornia said.Cornia elaborated on the fact that carbon dioxide levels are rising every day and that adaptation is the best solution for immediate results.

To conclude, the debate captains from each side went up to deliver a persuasive speech. “While the United States may be able to adapt, this overlooks other less developed countries. It is the responsibility of rich countries to help poor countries,” Kime said.
Kime also said that cap and trade allows countries to move away from fossil fuels.

According to adaptation captain, Joseph Galella, 35 percent of Americans do not believe in climate change.

The judges, professors George Pomeroy and Pat Miller, made some comments before announcing their final selection. “This is truly the central environmental issue of our time and hopefully everyone understands that,” Pomeroy said.

The judges chose adaptation as the winning panel, based on their optimism for the future. However, as the panel discussed with the audience while waiting for the results, it was agreed that both mitigation and adaptation are needed to fight climate change.

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