The effects of climate change are becoming more visible in our everyday lives.
Dealing with, for example, ever hotter summers will be among the challenges for us as a society.
But what can we do?
First:
We can choose to make the consequences of a changing climate less harmful for us as a society.
This is commonly referred to as adaption.
Second:
We can choose to address the root causes of a changing climate and try to avoid the negative consequences in the first place.
This is commonly referred to as mitigation.
But there is a trade-off:
Tackling the root causes of a changing climate might be beneficial in the long-run.
But we still have to deal with the consequences that are already visible in our daily lives.
Typically, we don't have the resources to do both and have to decide.
An example:
Imagine you live in an apartment building in a city like Vienna. Summers are getting hotter every year and
living and perhaps working in your apartment is increasingly difficult due to the heat. You could, of course,
invest in an air conditioning system, which cools your apartment down to bearable temperatures. However, this
will increase your energy consumption, resulting not only in larger bills, but also in additional emissions.
Even so, this might be the only way to improve your situation for you individually.
Now, you are not alone in this situation. Every other resident in the apartment building faces the same choice.
However, this shared dilemma opens up a new path. Improving the energy efficiency of an apartment building is
not possible for any individual resident. But if everybody were to contribute to a common pool of resources,
an upgrade for the whole building could be not only feasible, but also beneficial for everybody. Among those benefits
might be a reduced energy demand (heating and/or cooling), eventually reducing individual costs.
Moreover, better insulation makes the consequences of hot summers more bearable for everybody.
It is obvious that the choice here is not straightforward. There are good reasons for choosing the short-term
solution. It provides an immediate improvement of the situation. At the same time, contributing to the common
pool of resources might reduce individual costs. This improves living conditions in a changing climate. However,
this effort might take a little longer to take effect. Additionally, you might not benefit equally from a collective effort.