Grade by Grade
B. Physical Geography and Physical Processes in Canada · Canada's Physical Environment: Landforms, Climate, Hazards and People

Responding to Climate Change: Local and Regional Mitigation and Adaptation

B2.4 A1.6 A2.2 A2.4About 70 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can explain the difference between mitigation and adaptation and give Canadian examples of each.
  • I can assess local and regional strategies using criteria such as effectiveness, cost, co-benefits, fairness and time scale.
  • I can identify strategies that do both (co-benefits) and strategies that might backfire (maladaptation).
  • I can communicate a recommendation respectfully and consider other people's perspectives.

Words to know

mitigation (climate)
Actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or remove them from the air, to limit future climate change.
adaptation (climate)
Actions that reduce the harm from climate change impacts that are happening or expected.
co-benefit
An extra benefit of an action beyond its main purpose (for example, trees that cool streets and also store carbon).
maladaptation
An action meant to reduce climate risk that ends up increasing risk or harm, now or later.
carbon sink
Something that absorbs and stores more carbon than it releases, such as forests, wetlands and peatlands.
green roof
A roof partly or fully covered with plants and a growing medium over a waterproof layer.
net-zero emissions
When greenhouse gases released are balanced by those removed from the atmosphere.
resilience
The ability of a community or system to absorb shocks and recover.

Two kinds of action

Imagine a bathtub that is overflowing. You can turn down the tap (reduce the cause) or you can mop the floor and build a little wall around the tub (reduce the harm). Climate action needs both.

  • Mitigation = turning down the tap: reducing greenhouse gas emissions or removing them from the air.
  • Adaptation = getting ready for the water already on the floor: reducing the harm from impacts that are happening or are coming no matter what.

Expectation B2.4 asks you to assess local and regional mitigation and adaptation strategies. In this lesson you will look at real Canadian examples and judge how well they work.

Greenhouse gasemissionsClimate changeimpactsMITIGATIONreduce the causerenewable power, transit,efficient buildings,protect forests and peatcutsADAPTATIONreduce the harmcooling centres, biggerculverts, green roofs,floodplain restorationeasesMitigation targets the cause; adaptation targets the effects.
Mitigation works on the cause (emissions); adaptation works on the effects (impacts). Communities need both.

Mitigation: Canadian examples

  • Cleaner electricity: Ontario finished phasing out its coal-fired power plants in 2014, often described as one of the largest single climate actions in North America. Today, provinces expand wind, solar, hydro, storage and (in some provinces) nuclear power.
  • Transportation: cities expand public transit and cycling networks; transit agencies such as those in Toronto, Edmonton and other cities are adding electric buses.
  • Buildings: better insulation, efficient windows and heat pumps cut heating and cooling energy. Building codes can require more efficient new buildings.
  • Waste: capturing methane from landfills and turning it into energy; composting food waste instead of landfilling it.
  • Nature: protecting and restoring forests, wetlands, grasslands and peatlands keeps carbon stored. The peatlands of the Hudson Bay Lowlands hold an enormous amount of carbon, which is one reason many people argue they should be protected.
  • Industry: carbon pricing for large industrial emitters, capturing carbon at some facilities, and cutting methane leaks from oil and gas operations.

Adaptation: Canadian examples

  • Heat: heat alerts and cooling centres; planting street trees for shade; checking on vulnerable neighbours. After the 2021 heat dome, B.C. improved its heat-warning system.
  • Flooding: bigger culverts and storm sewers; storm-water ponds; floodplain restoration that gives rivers room to spread out. In Toronto, the mouth of the Don River has been re-naturalized with a new river valley and parkland to protect the Port Lands from flooding.
  • Green roofs: Toronto requires green roofs on many large new buildings; they absorb rain, cool buildings and the air, and provide habitat.
  • Coasts: stronger and higher dikes and seawalls, and in some places managed retreat (moving buildings away from eroding shores). The low dikes and land of the Chignecto Isthmus, which carries the only road and rail link between Nova Scotia and the rest of Canada, are due to be raised and strengthened against storm surges and rising seas: a project of about $650 million, shared by the federal government and both provinces (agreed in 2025), with construction expected to begin around 2027.
  • The North: building on piles or thick gravel pads to protect permafrost; the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway (opened 2017) was built on a thick gravel embankment so the permafrost below stays frozen. Community-based ice monitoring (such as Inuit-led SmartICE) helps people travel safely.
  • Wildfire: FireSmart practices, fuel breaks, better forecasting, and evacuation planning.
  • Farming: drought-tolerant crops, soil conservation (no-till farming keeps soil covered), and water storage.
plants (often low sedums and grasses)growing medium (light soil mix)filter fabricdrainage layer (stores some water)root barrier and waterproof membraneroof deck and insulationGreen roof layers (cross-section). Schematic, not to scale.
A green roof is a layered system. The plants and growing medium soak up rain, the drainage layer stores some water, and the waterproof membrane protects the building.
Mitigation onlyAdaptation onlyBothwind and solar powerelectric busesheat pumpslandfill methanecaptureurban treesgreen roofsprotectingwetlandsseawalls and dikescooling centresbigger culvertsdrought-tolerantcrops
Some strategies are mitigation, some are adaptation, and some do both. Strategies in the middle have co-benefits, which often makes them good value.

Assessing strategies

Use clear criteria:

  1. Effectiveness: how much does it reduce emissions or harm?
  2. Cost and who pays: up-front and long-term costs.
  3. Co-benefits: cleaner air, better health, jobs, habitat, lower energy bills.
  4. Fairness: does it help the most vulnerable, or put burdens on people who can least afford them?
  5. Time scale: does it work quickly or only in the long term? Will it still work in a hotter future?
  6. Risk of maladaptation: could it make things worse? For example, a seawall can protect one property but increase erosion on the neighbour's beach, and air conditioning alone keeps people cool but, if powered by fossil fuels, adds emissions.
Worked example

Worked example: How much rain can a green roof hold back?

A storm drops 30 mm of rain on a 1000 m² flat roof. A conventional roof sends almost all of it to the storm sewer. Suppose a green roof holds back 50% of this storm's rain. How much water stays off the sewer system?

  1. Volume of rain: 30 mm = 0.03 m; 0.03 × 1000 = 30 m³ (30 000 L).
  2. Green roof holds back 50%: 0.5 × 30 = 15 m³.
  3. That is 15 000 L that does not rush into storm sewers during the storm (some evaporates later; some drains slowly).

The green roof keeps about 15 m³ (15 000 L) out of the storm sewer for this storm. (Real retention depends on the roof's design, the season and how wet it already was.)

Worked example

Modelled example: Assessing two strategies for a city

A mid-sized Ontario city has money for one project: (A) a network of protected bike lanes and more frequent buses, or (B) planting 20 000 street trees in the hottest, least-shaded neighbourhoods. Assess both.

  1. Purpose: A is mainly mitigation (fewer car trips). B is mainly adaptation (cooler streets) with some mitigation (trees store carbon).
  2. Effectiveness: A reduces emissions only if many people switch from cars; B cools streets as trees grow, but it takes 10 to 20 years for full shade.
  3. Co-benefits: A: cleaner air, exercise, cheaper travel. B: shade, habitat, storm-water absorption, mental health.
  4. Fairness: B targets the hottest, often lower-income neighbourhoods, which helps the most vulnerable. A helps people without cars if routes serve their neighbourhoods.
  5. Judgement: both are strong. B scores higher on fairness and co-benefits; A gives faster emission cuts. A city might phase both in, starting with trees in the most heat-vulnerable areas, because trees take longest to mature.

There is no single right answer, but a strong assessment uses criteria, evidence and the perspectives of the people affected.

🔎 Geographer's toolkit: communicating a recommendation

When you present a recommendation (A1.6, A2.2):

  • State your position clearly, then give criteria and evidence.
  • Acknowledge other views: "Some residents worry bike lanes will slow car traffic. One way to address this is..."
  • Use respectful language, especially when discussing groups who bear more of the cost.
  • Use geographic terms correctly (mitigation, adaptation, co-benefit, vulnerability).

Careers that do this work include climate adaptation planners, urban planners, GIS analysts, hydrologists, energy advisors, forest fire scientists and emergency managers (A2.4). Many start with a geography background.

Hands-on activity

Home climate check-up

You need: a strip of tissue paper or a light ribbon, a notebook, a grown-up to walk around with you.

  1. Draft test (mitigation): on a cool or windy day, hold the tissue near closed windows and doors. If it flutters, warm air is escaping. List the leaks.
  2. Energy check (mitigation): list three ways your household could use less energy (for example, sealing drafts, turning down the heat a degree or two at night, washing clothes in cold water, air-drying).
  3. Water check (adaptation): after rain, look at downspouts. Do they drain onto lawn or garden (good) or onto pavement or next to the foundation (risk of flooding the basement)?
  4. Heat check (adaptation): which room gets hottest in summer? Could blinds, shade trees, fans or opening windows at night help?
  5. Make a plan with two mitigation and two adaptation actions, and rank them by cost and effectiveness.

What to look for: specific, realistic actions; correct labelling of each as mitigation or adaptation; reasoning about cost and effect. Grown-up note: adults handle any changes to heating systems, electrical equipment or ladders.

Just for fun

Funny but true: some green roofs in Canadian cities carry beehives and vegetable gardens. That means a few downtown office workers commute to work... and then go upstairs to check on their bees.

Your turn

1

What is the difference between mitigation and adaptation?

2

Classify: (a) heat pumps, (b) cooling centres, (c) bigger culverts, (d) electric buses.

3

Give one strategy that is both mitigation and adaptation, and explain why.

4

What major mitigation step did Ontario complete in 2014?

5

Why was the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway built on a thick gravel embankment?

6

What is maladaptation? Give an example.

7

Name three criteria for assessing a climate strategy.

More practice: warm-up

1

Is planting drought-tolerant crops mitigation or adaptation?

2

Is capturing landfill methane mitigation or adaptation?

3

What is a carbon sink?

4

Which Canadian city requires green roofs on many large new buildings?

5

What is a co-benefit?

More practice: on your own

1

Why might protecting the Hudson Bay Lowlands peatlands be considered climate mitigation?

2

A 500 m² green roof holds back 60% of a 20 mm storm. How much water is held back?

3

Explain why fairness matters when choosing where to plant trees for heat adaptation.

4

Give one strength and one weakness of building higher dikes on the Chignecto Isthmus.

5

Why do communities need adaptation even if the world cuts emissions quickly?

Challenge

1

A coastal town is choosing between (A) a large seawall and (B) moving the most at-risk homes inland and restoring a salt marsh. Assess both using at least four criteria and make a recommendation.

2

Explain how air conditioning can be both adaptation and maladaptation.

3

Design a three-part climate plan for your own school or neighbourhood with one mitigation, one adaptation and one co-benefit strategy. For each, name one way to measure whether it worked.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which is a MITIGATION strategy?

2.

Which is an ADAPTATION strategy?

3.

Urban trees are a good example of:

4.

A seawall that protects one beach but speeds up erosion on the next is an example of:

5.

Why was the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway built on thick gravel?

6.

A green roof holds back 50% of 30 m³ of rain. How much is held back?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: This lesson completes B2.4: assessing local and regional mitigation and adaptation strategies. Students practise evaluating, not just listing: effectiveness, cost, co-benefits, fairness, time scale and maladaptation. It also touches on A2.2 (respectful communication) and A2.4 (careers).

Common difficulties:

  • Mixing up mitigation and adaptation. Use the bathtub: tap (mitigation) vs mop (adaptation).
  • One-sided answers. Encourage "strength, weakness, recommendation".
  • Feeling that action is pointless. Point to real, measurable Canadian successes (coal phase-out, flood-protection projects, community programs).

How to help: Do the home climate check-up together and act on one item. Look up your municipality's climate action plan and pick one project to discuss: Is it mitigation or adaptation? Who benefits?