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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Food Plight"
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GROWING CONCERN... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. SCIENTISTS HAVE NO MAGIC CRYSTAL-BALL TO PREDICT THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE WORLD'S FOOD SUPPLY. BUT, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON AND STANFORD RESEARCHERS HAVE THE NEXT-BEST THING: BY INTEGRATING SOPHISTICATED CLIMATE MODELS WITH HISTORICAL CLIMATE DATA, THEY SAY THAT THE CONSEQUENCES OF RISING TEMPERATURES--ESPECIALLY IN TROPICAL REGIONS--COULD CAUSE SEVERE FOOD SHORTAGES BY THE END OF THIS CENTURY--UNLESS THE WORLD BEGINS TO ADAPT NOW. THE TROPICS AND THE SUB-TROPICS ARE CURRENTLY HOME TO SOME THREE-BILLION PEOPLE--AND PROJECTIONS SAY THAT TWICE THAT MANY WILL LIVE THERE BY THE END OF THE CENTURY. PEOPLE IN THE REGION SUBSIST ON AN AVERAGE OF TWO DOLLARS A DAY--MAKING THEIR LIVING THROUGH AGRICULTURE. THE RESEARCH TEAM CONCLUDES THAT--EVEN THOUGH TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS IN THE REGION WON'T BE AS GREAT AS THOSE IN THE MID- AND UPPER LATITUDES--THE TROPICS ARE ALREADY IN THE HIGH END OF THE TEMPERATURE SCALE--SO EVEN SMALL INCREASES COULD REDUCE CROP PRODUCTION THERE. THEIR PREDICTIONS SHOW THAT--FOR STAPLES LIKE CORN AND RICE--YIELDS COULD DROP BY 20- TO 40-PERCENT, OR EVEN MORE. AS CONDITIONS WORSEN, FARMERS WILL LEAVE AGRICULTURAL AREAS, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE COULD BE SEARCHING FOR NEW FOOD SUPPLIES, AND THE EFFECTS OF WARMING COULD BEGIN TO SNOWBALL. THE SCIENTISTS SAY THAT THESE FINDINGS POINT UP THE NEED FOR AGRICULTURE TO ADAPT NOW--BY DEVELOPING MORE-HEAT-RESISTANT CROPS, AND BY RE-THINKING THE WAY THAT WE GROW FOOD. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
