Climate Change Reflection

The fact that corn production could be down 50% at the end of the 21^st Century really surprised me. I knew that production of crops would decrease as climate change worsened, but that loses a lot of food source and supply for humans. Many food products contain corn, so as production goes down, we are going to have to find ways to replace corn in the food products and learn how to produce food products differently. I was also really surprised to learn in the same article on Scientific American that scientists haven’t been very successful in creating high temperature GMO seeds. This surprises me because they have been able to create GMO crops resistant to certain diseases and pesticides, so I figured that heat resistant GMO crop would be able to be easily created.[1]

One type of evidence for climate change is more extreme events taking place. The evidence shows that extreme events that are at lower temperatures have been decreasing, while extreme events that occur at higher temperatures have been increasing. Since less events are happening at lower temperatures and more at higher, it shows that climate change is affecting extreme weather events. Another type of evidence for climate change is declining Arctic Sea ice. The ice in the Artic Sea has become less widespread over the area and has become thinner. This shows that climate change is affecting the ice in the Artic Sea by melting it so there is not as much as there used to be.[2]

When I read articles about climate change, I always try to carefully read the information that the article is conveying and try to figure out what the author’s opinion is to look how they might be twisting evidence to support their argument. The articles that I usually don’t trust are the ones that don’t cite information. It is hard to know what to believe, but we can look at the studies and facts that the author uses when they cite them to actually figure out what we trust.

One effect that climate change might have on plants is that crop yield may decrease for plants that can only grow in certain climates. This could become a problem for humans and other organisms because if the crops make up a large proportion of food supply, then new sources of food will have to be found and there might be less food and cause food prices to rise.[3] Another effect that climate change might have on plants is that native plants to one area might have to spread to another area to survive or learn how to adapt. This could have an effect on organisms if certain plants are consumed by wild animals and the plants start to leave, the animal population might decrease. It could also affect humans because the areas they live in might not be as diverse and plants that they grow in gardens might not be able to survive.[4]

One question I have about climate change is: Will people living in certain areas have to move due to climate change within the next Century?

[1] Balaraman, “U.S. Crop Harvests Could Suffer with Climate Change.”

[2] https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

[3] Balaraman, “U.S. Crop Harvests Could Suffer with Climate Change.”

[4] Upton, “Climate Change Is Leaving Native Plants Behind.”

Bibliography

Balaraman, Kavya. “U.S. Crop Harvests Could Suffer with Climate Change.” Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-crop-harvests-could-suffer-with-climate-change/ (accessed October 13, 2018).

https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

Upton, John. “Climate Change Is Leaving Native Plants Behind.” Climate Central, http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-change-is-leaving-native-plants-behind-19992 (accessed October 13, 2018).