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Adaptation Adapt, flee or die. That's how humans have responded to climate change over the eons. NPR explores the fate of past civilizations facing climate change, and adaptation and survival strategies currently at work.
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Adaptation

Watching Peru's Oceans for Cholera Cues

Warming oceans were behind Peru's cholera outbreaks in the 1990s, and global warming may cause future outbreaks. Some scientists in Peru are closely watching microscopic marine life, hoping to catch an outbreak before it begins.

Watching Peru's Oceans for Cholera Cues

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The Pioneer Who Died for the South Pole

A century ago, British Naval Officer Robert Falcon Scott sought to lead the first team to the South Pole. He lost the race by five weeks, but collected scientific data on the Antarctic climate that scientists still use today.

The Pioneer Who Died for the South Pole

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Rainfall Shortages Threaten Costa Rica Power

Costa Rica's efforts to minimize global warming have made it especially vulnerable to climate changes. Because it relies on hydroelectric power, even a tiny shift in rainfall patterns could leave the country without enough water to meet its growing demand for electricity.

Rainfall Shortages Threaten Costa Rica Power

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Farming the Amazon with a Machete and Mulch

On jungle land at the mouth of the Amazon River, one resourceful female farmer has become a master of adaptation in a landscape of constant change. Her story offers an example of how individuals might face the challenges of climate change.

Farming the Amazon with a Machete and Mulch

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Dutch Architects Plan for a Floating Future

Architects in Holland are showing the rest of the world a way of turning adversity into opportunity. Instead of building around rising waters, they ask, why not build on water? Floating houses, gardens, even villages are the future vision of some Dutch planners.

Dutch Architects Plan for a Floating Future

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Climate Change Fuels Debate over Hurricane Threat

Members of the American Meteorological Society are meeting in New Orleans. There is a debate over whether warmer water, caused by climate change, will cause more destructive hurricanes like Katrina.

Climate Change Fuels Debate over Hurricane Threat

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Insurers Try to Calculate Risks of Climate Change

Before Hurricane Katrina came along, U.S. insurers didn't consider climate change when they assessed the risk of events like floods. Now they're factoring in a changing world, and it's costing consumers in places like New Orleans.

Insurers Try to Calculate Risks of Climate Change

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Crucial California Delta Faces a Salty Future

Rising sea levels from global warming threaten to turn California's Sacramento Delta into a salty marsh. But the delta provides drinking water for millions, and locals fear competing interest groups are blocking solutions.

Crucial California Delta Faces a Salty Future

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Venice Offers Lessons on Coping with Rising Seas

As the Earth warms up, rising sea levels will increase the threat of storm surges and flooding. In some places, that will make exisiting problems worse. Venice, Italy, offers a glimpse at what may lie ahead. A major engineering project aims to protect it from the rising sea, but most Venetians seem to take high water in stride.

Venice Offers Lessons on Coping with Rising Seas

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MOSE Project Aims to Part Venice Floods

Over the last century, the 1,300-year-old island-city of Venice has been subject to a growing number of high-water tides, due to climate change. The city's graceful buildings are threatened. Now an ambitious project to block the tides is under way.

MOSE Project Aims to Part Venice Floods

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Viking Farms Tell Cautionary Climate Tale

When Vikings arrived in Iceland around 874 A.D., they met with a warmer island rich with birch forests and trout-filled rivers. But as the Vikings changed the landscape — chopping down nearly all the trees — they also became more vulnerable to climate swings.

Viking Farms Tell Cautionary Climate Tale

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Scientists Examine Climate Change in Bible Tales

The Bible is filled with stories of major environmental changes, like floods, droughts and desertification, often shown as God's righteous punishment for human misdeeds. In these stories, some scientists see a chance to understand a little more about the world.

Scientists Examine Climate Change in Bible Tales

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Scientists Protect Corals from Warming Oceans

When the ocean gets too warm, coral dies. That's what happened in The Maldives a few years ago. But on one small island, researchers are learning about ways to help coral survive the heat.

Scientists Protect Corals from Warming Oceans

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In the Philippines, Religion and Nature Collide

Many Catholics in the Philippines see natural disasters as acts of God. But a growing number of religious groups there and elsewhere in the world are encouraging worshippers to give God a hand by caring for the environment.

In the Philippines, Religion and Nature Collide

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Waterproof Rice May Help Asia Cope with Flooding

In Bangladesh, rice is the daily food for everyone. A genetically engineered strain of the crop is offering hope for surviving the long-lasting floods that are a product of climate change.

Waterproof Rice May Help Asia Cope with Flooding

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Mottainai Grandma Reminds Japan, 'Don't Waste'

Balancing a Western lifestyle of high-tech needs with an ancient conservationist attitude is becoming increasingly difficult for Japan. But as the country struggles to meet its Kyoto Protocol commitments, a children's book is urging the Japanese to recall their penny-wise roots.

Mottainai Grandma Reminds Japan, 'Don't Waste'

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In Japan, Going Solar Costly Despite Market Surge

Although Japanese solar energy companies have begun to turn profits, household consumers are still wary of taking the expensive plunge of purchasing solar panels as government assistance dwindles.

In Japan, Going Solar Costly Despite Market Surge

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Nations Jostle for a Share of the Arctic

Nations and corporations are jostling for a share of the Arctic — a seemingly barren region that everybody wants to own. The climate is changing, and so is the business climate, which you can see when visiting a remote spot north of the Arctic Circle, Bathhurst Inlet.

Nations Jostle for a Share of the Arctic

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Lethal Heat Waves Threaten Urban Residents

In recent years, many big cities have suffered epidemics of fatal heat stroke, and scientists predict more-frequent heat waves. But global warming isn't the only factor. Big cities also create their own heat.

Lethal Heat Waves Threaten Urban Residents

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Plains Farmers Learn from Past as Aquifer Depletes

The enormous Ogallala Aquifer was a source of hope for Great Plains farmers who survived the Dust Bowl. But widespread use of the underground aquifer for irrigation is depleting the water supply, leaving farmers with yearly decisions about how to use the water and how to conserve it for future generations.

Plains Farmers Learn from Past as Aquifer Depletes

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Spanish Winemakers Go Cooler to Stay in the Game

As the temperature – and the wine-producing competition – heats up, Spanish winemakers, Torres wine, have headed for the cooler fields of the Pyrenees Mountains to grow grapes that can withstand changes in climate and the wine industry.

Spanish Winemakers Go Cooler to Stay in the Game

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