have you noticed our climate is changing and when we say climate we're not referring to day-to-day changes in weather we're talking long-term trends changes that you can only see over a long period of time like shorter ice cover on lakes warmer agriculture temperatures longer summers more frequent heat waves and flooding from severe storms these changes in climate can be difficult to see as we go about our daily lives but they are important because they impact our community's economy and culture the way we live is based on the climate we live in warmer winters means less ice fishing snowmobiling and cross-country skiing all vital parts of our culture and economy longer summers mean farmers have a longer growing season but more bugs and diseases to deal with heat waves may be nice if you're on the beach but they can harm vulnerable people like the elderly and young or those who don't have access to cooler places and flooding from heavy rain can destroy homes roads and crops as our climate continues to change impacts are becoming more and more serious and even if climate change is not impacting your community now it will soon but how and when we react though is up to us we can adapt which means we change the way we live based on how our communities are being impacted if flooding is a problem we can redesign storm water systems to handle more water and we can plant trees and crops suited for longer warmer growing seasons we can plant vegetation to provide more shade with cold water trout streams keeping the water temperatures down and we can develop heat emergency action plans to assist vulnerable people during heat waves adaptation identifying and preparing for the impacts of climate change helps in the short run and can save property money lives and even wildlife but in the long run if we are to slow climate change we have to curb emissions of carbon oxide and other heat-trapping gases in an effort to reduce global warming this is called mitigation small steps like driving and flying less decreasing energy use or reducing consumption are all examples of mitigation but if mitigation of climate change is to be effective it has to be on a large scale which means we have to reduce harmful emissions as individuals as communities as businesses as states as countries and collectively as a world [Music] you