Unprecedented heat will trigger global food crisis

[Newsjock]

Source: Globe and Mail

The world faces a “perpetual food crisis” because global warming will likely lead to massive and simultaneous crop failures in many regions, possibly as early as the period from 2040 to 2060, a new study says.

The finding, appearing in the journal Science, is based on climate models that suggest the worst heat waves of the past – such as the one in Europe in 2003 that killed at least 30,000 people – are likely to become the new normal summertime temperatures.

Although the trend to extreme heat becoming the new normal could start in some parts of the world by mid-century, well within the lifetimes of many people now alive, the researchers are confident it will become a global phenomenon between 2080 and 2100.

... The principal author of the study, University of Washington climate researcher David Battisti, says the reduction in yields of some of the world's most important food crops will have dire results, particularly in the tropics and subtropics, where many people are already malnourished.

... In an interview, Dr. Battisti contended that global warming's effect on agriculture is likely to be a larger threat to humanity than the submerging of coastal cities due to melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090108.wclimate0108/BNStory/International/home

[quidam56]

1. But Hannity says there is no such thing as global warming...

Hannity's America sure isn't My America ! http://www.wisecountyissues.com

[GliderGuider]

2. Finally this is being talked about.

Rising sea levels may make better movies, but crop failures due to changing climate and rainfall patterns are the real threat of global warming. That's one of the factors used in this analysis:

Africa in 2040: The Darkened Continent

Introduction

There is a darkness moving on the face of the land. We catch glimpses of it in newscasts from far-off places that few of us have ever seen. We hear hints of it on the radio, read snippets about it in newspapers and magazines. The stories are always fragmentary, lacking context or connection. They speak of things like hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, war in Chad, electricity problems in Johannesburg, famine in Malawi, pipeline fires in Nigeria, political violence in Kenya, cholera in Congo. Each snapshot of grief heaves briefly into view, then fades back into obscurity. With every fresh story we are left asking ourselves, "Is there something bigger going on here, some unseen thread connecting these dots? Or is this just more of the same from a continent that has known more than its share of misery?"

This paper is my attempt to connect those dots, to tease some order out of the chaos of the news reports. Because this is a quantitative analysis, much of the information is presented numerically and in graphs. This is a deliberate decision. It's very difficult to tell a tale this big with individual anecdotes, as compelling as they may be. While personal stories can bring a situation to life, they cannot effectively convey the scope and scale of something as large as this. Each graph has a crucial tale to tell. I hope you spend some time with each one, thinking about what those bloodless numbers mean in terms of human lives.

(~~~)

Climate Change

Much of African agriculture is rain fed rather than irrigated. The actual amount ranges up to 96% of Sub-Saharan agriculture, according to the World Bank. Rain fed agriculture is extremely vulnerable to any change in rainfall patterns. Unfortunately, such a disruption is one of the early effects of climate change. According to a recent estimate, climate change may reduce the yield of crops like maize by as much as 30% in Southern Africa over the next two decades.

When you combine climate driven crop failures with Peak Oil and the current economic crash the human predicament suddenly starts to look a lot more serious, and a whole lot more immediate.

[No Elephants]

3. This is why Gore got the Nobel PEACE Prize for his work on climate change. We are going to start

killing each other over food. Hideous thought, but let's start with the biggest, most stubborn polluters.

[stuntcat]

4. yes, the most stubborn polluters..

Those people are all rich 1st-worlders.. the 5% of humans who control most of the world's wealth will be the last ones to pay for taking Earth for granted. The results of their not caring will effect them LAST.

I wish the public at large (PAL!) would realize in time the effect those fat cats have had and hold them accountable (I mean MAKE them pay :grr:)