Block 9: Adaptation vs. Mitigation: What Chennai Can Actually Do
Two billboards in Chennai: one says 'Plant a tree, save the planet.' The other says 'New AC subsidies for low-income households during heat waves.'
Task: Which billboard is about mitigation, which about adaptation? Are they competing or complementary?
Answer in your Field Notebook, dated.
I can define and distinguish mitigation and adaptation with one Chennai example each, identify which lever applies to my challenge, and draft 3-5 specific, actionable, evidence-anchored Recommendations.
I can use models and data tools to show how human activity is changing the links between Earth's systems.
"Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity."
Where this runs:
- U4 B9: Adaptation vs. Mitigation: What Chennai Can Actually Do ← you are here
- U4 B10: Climate Brief Work Day + Worked-Example Brief + Peer Feedback
- U4 B11: Climate Brief Final Drafting + Panel Rehearsal
- U4 B12: Briefs Submitted + Policy Panel Q&A
Assessed:
Chennai Climate Brief: adaptation analysis (T/T) + Policy Panel (C)
On track looks like:
Your recommendation connects a human decision to a system response, with a tool or dataset behind it.
I can judge a design by weighing its trade-offs: cost, safety, who it protects, who it leaves out.
"Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts."
Where this runs:
- U3 B9: Iteration
- U3 B10: Defense Rehearsal + Optional Final Iteration
- U3 B11: Final Defenses Day 1
- U4 B9: Adaptation vs. Mitigation: What Chennai Can Actually Do ← you are here
Assessed:
Final Defense (C + T/T)
On track looks like:
Your defense names what your design sacrifices, not just what it achieves.
What today is about
The defining climate-policy distinction. Today: draft your Brief's Recommendations.
Mitigation = reduce the cause (cut emissions). Adaptation = reduce the impact (build resilience to changes already locked in). Both matter, but Chennai (as a city government, not a national one) has far more adaptation levers than mitigation levers. National policy decides on power plants and fuel taxes. The Greater Chennai Corporation decides on drainage, building codes, cooling shelters, mangrove restoration. Data centers belong on this list too: Chennai is a growing data-center hub, and their cooling draws on the same stressed water system the rest of the city shares; the demand side of Block 4's story becomes an adaptation question here.
The bell ringer makes the distinction visible: two Chennai billboards, side-by-side. One says "Plant a tree, save the planet." The other says "New AC subsidies for low-income households during heat waves." One is mitigation; one is adaptation. Both could be in the same year's budget. Today you internalize the distinction, then apply it to YOUR challenge by drafting the Brief's Recommendations section: 3-5 specific, evidence-anchored, actionable items.
Before you start the work
Start with the Interact: it runs with the whole class before you draft. The Watch is projected first, and the Read is your reference for the choice board.
Today's work: choose one path
All four paths end with a first draft of the Recommendations section (3-5 items, specific + evidence-anchored + actionable). No "raise awareness" recommendations.
One page, four quadrants, on YOUR adaptation challenge: DESCRIBE it (facts and numbers only) · REACT to it (your honest response; this quadrant is allowed in science) · ANALYZE it (mechanisms, trade-offs, who benefits from the status quo) · SOLVE it (directions, actors, costs, and your strongest candidate). Handwritten or typed; template in Classroom. Block 10's drafting starts FROM this page, so arriving without it means starting cold. The quadrants map almost directly onto the Brief's sections: Describe feeds your situation section, Analyze feeds the science, Solve feeds the recommendations, and React, disciplined by the other three, is what keeps your brief from sounding like a machine wrote it.
Submit via Google Classroom (link posted in August)Open your Class Notebook and type today's entry header as Heading 2:
A: Feb 11 | U4 B9 | Adaptation vs MitigationB: Feb 12 | U4 B9 | Adaptation vs Mitigation
What you're submitting today
Component 2 (T/T) of the Climate Brief locks today: Recommendations. "Raise awareness" caps this component at 3-4.
3-5 items. Each item: specific action + evidence anchor + label as adaptation / mitigation / both. Format: bulleted list. Example of a strong recommendation: "Install monitoring stations at 12 high-vulnerability coastal points along the Cooum estuary; cost ~₹40 lakh; data goes to GCC adaptation desk monthly." Example of a weak one: "Raise awareness about climate change." Don't submit the second kind. This is a T/T component and it locks today: the band becomes part of your overall T/T mark.
Submit via Google Classroom (link posted in August)One question before you leave
Three to five minutes. Your answer is saved to your reflection journal, where you can read back everything you have written this year.
Today's reflection is in Google Classroom, under Reflection Journal.
Link posted in AugustSign in with your school account. Your teacher can see what you write here.