Listening to the various Government announcements (including the UN) and international science debates on climate change and the reduction of Green House Gas (mainly CO2) emissions, a very subtle difference in tone has occured in recent years. Although much of the rhetoric is still focussed on reducing carbon emissions to prevent more than a 2 degree C climb in temperature, increasingly the terminology has shifted to "adaptation" and "transformation". In essence although the focus has remained on message, slowly but surely there is a dawning realisation that turning around carbon emissions from the current production-oriented world cannot occur in sufficient time and with the required level of magnitude to prevent a change in the world's climate. Therefore the direction has moved to adapting to a warmer and more unpredictable climate with changes in building design, settlement patterns, agricultural crop location, choice of crop species and so on. 'Sustainability' has in reality become a cover word for survival.
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