Strategies for Adapting to the Greenhouse Effect

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Abstract
Increasing concentrations of CO2 and other gases seem likely to warm the earth in the next century. This article examines opportunities to prepare for the consequences, and focuses on options that are rational even if one is skeptical about global warming. These include rerouting the Mississippi River to save coastal Louisiana, changing coastal land use conventions to enable ecosystems to migrate inland as sea level rises, and phasing out federal water subsidies in the west. The merits of deferring action on the greenhouse effect until its consequences are proven must also be weighed against the relative ease of reaching a consensus on what is fair today, while the consequences still seem remote.