Yeah But… We Can Adapt, Technology Can Fix It

It’s a go-to argument when denialism meets techno-optimism. And it sounds like something Elon Musk would say: “We’ll adapt. Technology will fix it.”

Yes, adaptation is essential. And yes, technology is powerful. But the idea that we can only adapt, without reducing emissions, is a dangerous fantasy. It’s like saying, “Don’t worry, we’ll just keep bailing out the boat with a bucket” while refusing to plug the hole.

1. Adaptation Has Limits

There are things humans simply can’t adapt to. You can’t “tech” your way out of:

• Unbreathable air.

• Oceans rising into your kitchen.

• Crops failing from chronic drought and heat.

• Mass species extinctions that collapse ecosystems.

• Heatwaves too extreme for outdoor labour and human survival.

Adaptation helps us cope with symptoms. But if we don’t treat the cause - greenhouse gas emissions - those symptoms will keep getting worse. Eventually, they’ll outpace our capacity to adapt.

2. Technology Isn’t Neutral

Some of the technologies we’re relying on to ‘save us’ are still deeply entangled in fossil fuel supply chains. Some haven’t been scaled. Others aren’t proven. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), for example, has been promised since the 1990s - and it’s still at best staggeringly expensive, patchy, and energy-intensive.

Meanwhile, the most effective climate technology we have - renewables - are already working. Solar, wind, batteries, pumped hydro, electrification, demand management, and yes, smarter adaptive technologies (like heat-resilient crops, seawalls and early warning systems) are already rolling out. But they need political will, funding, and regulatory reform - not magical thinking.

3. Adaptation Is Not Justice

When we say “we can adapt”, who is ‘we’? Wealthy people and countries might be able to afford air conditioning, seawalls, flood mitigation, and fireproof bunkers. But low-income Aussies, First Nations communities, people in the Pacific, in Bangladesh, and in rural Africa are already struggling. They’re being asked to adapt to disasters they didn’t cause, with resources they don’t have. Tech or a Tesla won’t fix that. Climate justice will.

4. We Need Both: Rapid Mitigation and Thoughtful Adaptation

I’m all for smart climate tech. We need innovation. But it has to sit alongside a hard, urgent, science-based push to slash emissions. And fast. As the UN Secretary-General has said:

“The era of global boiling has arrived.”This is not the time for “let’s wait and see what tech can do.”

We already have the solutions. What we need now is action.

This blog is part of my ‘Yeah But…’ series on common climate denialist talking points. Got suggestions for the next one? Leave a comment or message me. And if you found this useful, please follow and share my blog.