Managing Climate Change. Adopting a Macho or a Modest Approach?

Under the headline ‘Macho Plants’, a Dutch-Flemish gardening magazine recently published an eye-catching article describing ten garden plants which are not only resistant to exceptionally heavy rain but also to long periods of drought. ‘Macho’ because they can apparently survive the anticipated effects of climate change on our part of the world. Yet climate change will create more urgent and pressing problems than those which can be solved by a handful of ‘macho’ plants. This article will explore the extent to which the idea of adaptation to climate change has penetrated society: might it also reflect the lengths to which we will go to accommodate this self-created problem?