Who decides how we adapt to climate change? | Leah Aronowsky

The question is not whether we will reshape our institutions to manage climate impacts, but how

For decades, stopping climate change" has been the singular goal of climate politics. Across the political spectrum, from grassroots climate campaigners to elite UN negotiators, reducing carbon emissions to avoid future catastrophe has been the organizing logic of climate policies.

Yet climate change has arrived and its material impacts are already being felt. This means that climate politics can no longer focus only on preventing future catastrophes. It must now also encompass struggles over how society manages climate impacts already reshaping economic and social life. Insurance markets, housing, water and land use policies, national labor markets, and local economies - all will need to be radically remade as we adapt to a changed and increasingly volatile climate.

Leah Aronowsky is a historian of science and assistant professor at the Columbia Climate School