Peruvian villagers began painting their local mountains white this summer to replace the glaciers that once covered the peaks. Peruvian inventor Eduardo Gold came up with the plan to slop a mixture of lime, egg white and water over roughly 170 acres. The whitewash will reflect sunlight to create cooler microclimate areas that they hope will eventually help to rebuild the glaciers that are largely the source of water in the region.
These and other adaptation efforts seem to be the approach these days as we move past turning climate change around and toward an active role in adapting and combating local impacts. Major shifts in climate seem inevitable as our world leaders gather in Cancun this week to talk about climate change, and the only real action seems to be taking root at the local level.
The latest issue of the Economist has come to a similar conclusion with this week’s cover story title, “How to Live with Climate Change.” At the center of this piece is the assertion that acceptance doesn’t mean inaction. With little to be done to combat things at a global scale, the local impacts are forcing action, and this is where meaningful efforts on geovisualization and sensor networks can make their mark to understand what is taking place and to lessen the economic impact.
