23 Dec 2007 @ 12:27, by swanny
Just a report I made and gave to the gov...
sir swan
Climate Change and Major Crop Yields
December 2007, Canada by Alfred G. Jonas
The issue of climate change is not new. In fact, studies have shown that climate change
itself, is part of the normal changes that occur on a regular basis on the Earth since its
creation some 4.5 billion years ago. Since that time the climate has varied both to colder and
warmer times and states. This though, has been mostly constructive as it, in good part is what
has given rise to the diversity of life here on the Earth, the life that we now know and enjoy,
in this the 21st century.
As recently then perhaps as 2,000 years ago it has been documented that a little ice age
may have occurred in the British isles and that somewhat more distant, about 8,000 BC a
warming on the North American ice shield may have caused a great flooding in the
Mediterranean which could have accounted for the Noah’s ark reference in the record of the
Holy Bible. So yes, climate change happens and has happened fairly regularly on Earth and
on a somewhat short though long in human terms, basis. It is perhaps safe to say too that the
changes that have occurred have probably been of somewhat different degrees and lengths
of climate temperature difference diversely around the globe.
Recently though as of the last decade or so some have been suggesting that a somewhat
novel situation is occurring, that being the case of where climate change is actually being
caused or contributed to by a particular species of planetary life via the cumulative activities
of their daily living. The historical evidence of this is kind of occurrence is somewhat rare if
not mostly nonexistent but this is what is said to be occurring right now as a result of the
activities, developments and technologies of us, the planets human species. These
contributions are said to be the cause of a current gradual warming of the Earth that has been
building perhaps over the last 250 years or so. A global warming due to the excessive
creation and production of CO2 gases in the planets closed atmospheric system, thus trapping
more heat than the normal checks and balances of the planet permit. This situation is thus
altering the planets natural “carbon cycle” and causing an apparent 1 to 3 degree Celsius
increase in the mean global temperature or more specifically an increase in its global
radiative forcings.
Is this true? Well given that we are certainly by our modern activities and technologies
creating a somewhat large amount of CO2 gases and if CO2 gas does as it is said to, and acts
somewhat like a global gaseous insulation that does not permit the planet to mitigate and
moderate the suns incoming radiations as it normally does then most likely a slight rise in the
whole planets temperature is happening. It thus seems possible that humans have created a
situation somewhat akin to the somewhat common but unnatural introduction of a species
into an area where it has no natural predators or competition, such thus disrupting the natural
harmony, checks and balances of the area. In this a climate case though, it is our somewhat
advanced and unnatural activities and technologies that are disrupting the natural carbon
cycle and causing global warming. Findings to date seem to suggest that this carbon cycle
disruption may thusly require stoppage or reductions of certain human actions to restore and
or find a new mutual harmony, cycle and balance. Certainly a large number of the scientists
of the day say that this is with 90% certainty what is indeed occurring and thus requiring
immediate attention and compensatory measures by the global human community to
counteract.
Why the concern though we might ask? Well there are many consequences to this but
offhand one major one might be the effect of global warming on the global food production
for society. In that regard I recall seeing a TV program some years ago, that explained that
the demise of many past great civilizations occurred mostly due, not to war or disease or
economic collapse but likely to large famines from simple successive crop failures. One chief
example given and shown was that of the Mayan civilization of around 300 AD which is said
to have failed to recognize the insidious demise of their crops over a fairly long period and
which thus rendered there cities and civilization unsustainable. The old adage coming to
mind on this of being “an army marches on its stomach” thus with no or little food, there are
no full bellies and hence no army. This thus would indicate and reinforce the need then for
global food security and that it is an important consideration to assess in regards to the
possible effects on food production from any and all global climate change.
A few studies have been done somewhat in this regard and they have found that current
temperature changes can and do indeed seem to be stressing major global crops and thus
effecting their yield and that most of the current major global crops overall seem to be
smaller. One study even took into account the benefit of the fertilization capacity of the
added CO2 and still saw a reduction in crops. So thus the global 1 to 3 degree increase in
temperature (not noticeable without instruments) is causing a certain amount of major crop
reductions, at least in its initial stages. A couple of additional developments are also
compounding this emerging situation. One is the increase in demand for food crops for use
in the bio fuel industry, which is seem as one way of reducing CO2 concentrations and as
well the inefficiency of feeding grains to livestock in terms of transfer of caloric energy for
food value, as well too as the emerging suggestions that some of the current arable
agricultural lands may have to revert back to new forest lands to help offset the lack of
sufficient carbon sinks left on the planet to aid in the reduction and absorption of the excess
CO2 in the planets disrupted carbon cycle.
Thus in conclusion then, global warming with a 90% certainty of many of the planets
climate scientists does seem to be occurring and the stress of this is causing a reduction in the
yield of global crops which is being compounded as well by the increasing demands for food
crops from new and inefficient old technologies and too the possible need to surrender crop
lands for carbon sink purposes all of which seem to point to a dire emerging situation if not
crisis for human society to address and resolve. This though might point to a need or
opportunity for some brave entrepreneurs to develop a new type of farming, i.e. “space
farming,” where by food crops and suitable arable crop lands could be found and monitored
by remote sensing and other methods to ensure an adequate and future supply of sustenance
for humanity and the planets other creatures and our mutual continuance.
REFERENCES:
The Great Grain Robbery, 1970s between USSR and USA, NASA Landsat
TV Program on the Demise of Ancient Civilizations, broadcast around 1997, Author?
Global Crop Production Review, 2005 USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility
IPCC WG1, 4th Assessment Report, 2006-2007 United Nations Climate Change Committee
Global Scale Climate-Crop Yield…, 2007, David B. Lobell & Christopher B. Field
Bio Fuel for Transport, 2007 Worldwatch.org ISBN 9781844074228
The First State of the Carbon Cycle Report, 2007, Climate Change Science Program, Acting
Director W. J. Brennan
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Wow and exactly
Ecological Economics
Couldn't have said it better than wiki...
wiki
Concept
The objective of ecological economics (EE) is to ground economic thinking and practice in physical reality, especially in the laws of physics (particularly the laws of thermodynamics) and in knowledge of biological systems. It accepts as a goal the improvement of human wellbeing through economic development, and seeks to ensure achievement of this through planning for the sustainable development of ecosystems and societies. It distinguishes itself from neoclassical economics (NCE) primarily by its assertion that economics is a subfield of ecology, in that ecology deals with the energy and matter transactions of life and the Earth, and the human economy is by definition contained within this system. In contrast, NCE has historically assumed implicitly (and, more recently, explicitly) that the environment is a subset of the human economy. In this approach, if nature is valuable to our economies, that is because people will pay for its services such as clean air, clean water, encounters with wilderness, etc. It is largely this assertion which allows for NCE to claim theoretically that infinite economic growth is both possible and desirable. However, this belief disagrees with much of what the natural sciences have learned about the world, and, according to EE, completely ignores the contributions of natural capital to the creation of wealth. Natural capital can be considered the planetary endowment of scarce matter and energy, along with the complex and biologically diverse ecosystems that provide goods and ecosystem services directly to human communities: micro- and macro-climate regulation, water recycling, water purification, storm water regulation, waste absorption, food and medicine production, pollination, protection from solar and cosmic radiation, the view of a starry night sky, etc.
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