Tag Archives: climate change

A HARDIER RICE FOR A WARMING WORLD

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Rice is a very common food source for the world’s population, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations stated that more than 16% of the worlds consumed calories comes from rice. As populations continue to increase the rice yields also need to increase to offset the rapid urbanization and growth. Unfortunately, rice needs specific temperatures to grow, as the world temperatures continue to rise, it is an immediate threat to the rice industry.

Distribution of rice production in the world

Though there is potential for a solution. Jane Langdale, a professor of plant development at Oxford University has taken on the role as coordinator for a project called “C4 Rice Project.” This project has received funding from the Bill Gates Foundation; he gave them an initial grant in 2008 and then another $15 million for Phase 4 of the research. The goal of this project is to transform rice from a C3 mechanism to a C4 mechanism. What does this mean? C3 is the process that many plants follow to extract carbon from the carbon dioxide molecules it absorbs. Though there are a few plants that use a process called C4, this process allows plants to be more resistant to extreme heat and drought, they would be much easier to grow in different climates.

This is an interesting topic to think about. Initially I was thinking, “Wow, this sounds amazing, a new rice that is easier to grow and could potentially help support the growing population, sound perfect!” Though as I continued to think about this topic, I felt like there were a lot of uncertainties too. Could there be negative impacts in introducing this new type of rice? After all, it is a genetically modified organism. I think that the potential negative impacts need to be further explored so that I can understand the whole story, because this is a very promising solution to the problem rice is facing with climate change.

What are your thoughts on this issue?

Original Article Link: https://www.ozy.com/around-the-world/a-hardier-rice-for-a-warming-world/300425/

Image from: http://chartsbin.com/view/1009 

Spare the Till – Carbon Farming’s Impact on the Climate

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The article “Is Carbon Farming a Climate Boon, or Boondoggle?” by Gabriel Popkin, investigates the growing controversy around carbon farming and the impact it has on curtailing carbon dioxide emissions. The story represents the intersection of agricultural food production, climate change, and economics. Carbon farming is the use of soil to sequester CO2, which itself is created during the farming process, thus preventing this greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere. Carbon farming helps combat climate change and provides an ancillary financial benefit to farmers across the U.S. by allowing them to store their reduced emissions as credits – physical amounts of CO2 retained in their soil. These soil carbon credits are then available for purchase, via a broker in the market-place, to help “offset” other types of economic activity which directly or indirectly creates CO2 emissions.

Source: Carbon Farmers of Australia https://carbonfarmersofaustralia.com.au/the-art-of-carbon-farming-for-regenerative-agriculture/

What is not addressed in depth are the sociopolitical implications. Carbon farming, as an approach to climate change, is gaining broad support – from governments to corporations to celebrities. And often the excitement of a revolutionary idea (and the potential for profit) can get ahead of the actual science. Because of this momentum, there is the potential for these groups to continue to back a science that may not be entirely sound. If for no other reason than this may be for maintaining one’s constituency, public posture, or reputation.

When we read about this type of approach to mitigating environmental damage and we encounter similar schemes that also claim to help stop climate change, this is a tacit acknowledgement that there is not always a genuine willingness or ability to prevent the creation of CO2 in the first place. In fact, in this instance, CO2 creation is occurring twice – once at the farming level and the other during the process for which the offsets are purchased.

Original Article: https://thefern.org/2020/03/is-carbon-farming-a-climate-boon-or-boondoggle/

Additional Interesting Article: https://www.vox.com/2020/2/27/20994118/carbon-offset-climate-change-net-zero-neutral-emissions