This week’s research question from the Georgia Climate Project Roadmap asks policy-makers what steps we can take right now to implement the mitigation of climate change and to adapt to changes that are already occurring. If we can get started on some of these solutions now, it will pay off down the road in making the ultimate goals easier to reach. You can read all of the Roadmap questions at https://roadmap.georgiaclimateproject.org/.
38. What are immediate steps that policy-makers at all levels can take to implement climate mitigation and adaptation solutions?
Why this question is important: For policymakers across Georgia to take effective, science-based climate action, it will be necessary to synthesize and integrate findings from important research questions into succinct synopses of action steps at the state, county, municipal, community, and/ or organization level. Given the historical preference of policymakers to identify a short list of priorities for their first weeks or months in office, it is likewise desirable to present “low-hanging fruit” and “quick win” opportunities for climate action with potentially positive and attractive outcomes. This implies a need for a comprehensive comparison of costs and benefits not only for various strategies for addressing particular issues, but also a high-level scan of the relative merits (potentially political as well as economic) across Georgia’s important climate research questions.
