Global warming has become an undisputed fact about our current livelihoods; our planet is warming up and we are definitely part of the problem. However, this isn’t the only environmental problem that we should be concerned about. All across the world,
It is well known that politics and religion are two topics to never to be discussed with someone one does not know well. In today’s society, it feels as if this list of topics that are socially deemed inappropriate to discuss seems to be growing, with climate change now being a conservation to avoid. This aversion to discussing climate change appears to stem from the fact that the issue tends to polarize opinions, in which people fall into one of two groups: climate change skeptics and climate change believers. This paper seeks to address and analyze the ways in which climate skeptics speak about and understand climate change as well as how climate scientists understand climate change phenomena. More specifically, this paper focuses on how climate skeptics comprehend the relationships between grasslands, livestock, methane and nutrient cycling and how these interconnected concepts do not lead to the type of climate change that “green urbanities /green politicians/green activists/green elite” predict. The paper will conclude with an evaluation of the two differing positions between climate skeptics and climate scientists, in which I will determine which argument I find to be the most accurate.
Due to the decline of the water levels in Lake mead and Colorado River, this has a huge impact on the the southwest of Arizona. This hugely impacts the agricultural industries and ranchings because they face drought, scouring heat and water shortages which decreases their farms yields and productivity. Because Arizona farmers are dependent on irrigation for vegetation, with a water crisis they would have feed shortages which would cause them to sell their farms with weaker disaster relief support.
“Economists at the University of California, Davis said that agriculture, once a $44 billion annual business in California, will suffer a financial hit of $2.2 billion due to revenue losses and higher water costs” (Associated Press, 2014). Many farmers are going out of business because the production costs have increased with rising inflation, while revenue has decreased. Others have reduced their farmland plantations which decreases the crop production. Some of the affected crops include oranges, pistachios and rice. One example of how this affects the nation is the California almonds. “California [is] the source of eighty percent of the world’s almonds” (Bloomberg, 2014). This year farmers had to come up with new tactics to rescue the nut from drought “by diverting the water used for vegetables and drilling more water wells to keep the trees hydrated” (Bloomberg, 2014). Farmers are not the only group of workers affected by the drought.
The low of water affect the most important supply of agriculture in the U.S. California agriculture produce more than 90% of food to the United States. The drought causes a massive economic problem from two directions. Katie Fehrenbacher from The Guardian states that agriculture industry has lost $1.5bn and more than 17,000 seasonal job. That statistic shows that the drought causes the agriculture a huge loss of money and farmers do not have jobs anymore. As a result the prices of food will rise and the cost of water will decrease. Since 2011 when the draught begun no one take a position or talk about it as a real problem they did not start to think about a real solutions to solve the problem until now. The mandatory cut of using water is a temporary solution the water will not last for more than one year. Reduce agriculture will hit the economy of the state and cause many problems because the lack of jobs. The number of Crimes will rise in the areas that suffer mostly from draught; people cannot find food or water. Farmers digging for water underground which increase the consumption of the underground water by 40%. Also, as far they go underground the amount of salt in water increase,
California is going on a four-year drought, having many devastating implications that are being felt by everyone in the state. The population hit the hardest has been the farmers of California. California, being economically driven by its agricultural production, is losing hundreds of thousands of jobs every year due to the lack of water. Farmers’ use 80% of water the state produces, directly influencing their production (Mieszkowski, 2014). The country heavily relies on California for much of its produce such as tomatoes, nuts, avocados, strawberries, broccoli, grapes and various others (Cooley et al. 2015). In 2014, harvested acreage was 6.9 million acres, the lowest it has been for the past 15 years. Farmers are now being forced to use significantly less land then before, but also ditch old irrigation techniques and implement new techniques to better conserve water; maximizing production as much as possible in order to combat the drought.
Over thousands of years water has been a very valuable element in our everyday lives. Now we are being faced with a shortage of water affecting not only us, but future generations as well. The drought has become an extreme issue that has affected the United States. For example, in Texas the dry spell has had an impact in families, politics and law, religion, health care, and mass media.
The farmers have faced challenges with the limited amount of water to supplement the variety of crops throughout many years, but on January 17, 2014 the Governor Jerry Brown according to an article from USGS named, “California Drought” brought to attention the issue of the drought. The limited resource of water devastated the farmers because the crops were in danger of becoming dry and useless. Since the awareness of the limited water supply the farmers had to find a way to manage the crops water usage. According to the article “How Farmers Conserve Water in a Drought”, by Elizabeth Held
Between 1930’s and 1940’s, a great drought hit the southern west Great Plains. “Dryland farming on the Great Plains led to the systematic destruction of the prairie grasses.”(Congress). It affected farmers by destroying their crops. “Simply put, if farmers produced less, the prices of their crops and livestock would increase.”(Congress). In a way, the farmers were paid less. “In a time when many were out of work and tens of thousands were starving, this wastefulness was considered downright wrong.”(Congress). Without crops to feed people, people were starving. “Cotton, corn and wheat prices doubled in three years.”(Congress) Farmers approved this act.
With the drought targeting the agricultural community in California, many farmers are starting to research more ways on how to become drought efficient. The two common methods of farming are organic and conventional. Different farming methods have their own way on affecting the public health and the environment through herbicides and pesticides. Some of the benefits of organic technologies are higher soil organic matter and nitrogen, lower fossil energy inputs, and conservation of soil moisture and water resources (Pimentel and Hepperly 2008). Conventional farming can be more ecological by adapting some of the organic technologies. The objective of this literature review is to better understand the problems that arise from being in a drought, the water supply, and how farmers are adapting to the change in climate.
Droughts have devastating effects all around. Most profoundly on the economy of the affected area; disrupting any balance in the supply and demand for food commodities, while pushing the cost of production up. This will translate to the market being largely imbalanced and will impact on the supply chain. Wisconsin is a large farming state, during the 2012 drought; farming practices were largely hampered causing a decline in the production of food. Consequently, farmers faced huge losses since their investment was not marched by the output. Considering this fact, the economy of Wisconsin's farming majority saw them running on a deficit. Law of reciprocity shows that if a component in the supply chain faces a deficit then other components will be forced to compensate for the loss and so the deficit will merely change hands.
The scarcity of water in California will keep getting worse, and the farmers limitations on water will too. Farmers are facing a greater threat than the federal government's limitations on their water consumption. Instead of ignoring the fact that: global warming is changing the environment around them. They should acknowledge that their land is getting significantly drier, and learn how to adapt to the land changing. In order, for them to successfully grow crops, pay their workers, and strive throughout future seasons. California farmers need to focus on what
According to Daniel L. Swain of the American meteorological society and Stanford University, says that the 2013 and 2014 drought in California was an exceptional climate event in the western coast of the United States( Swain) The drought that has impacted the state of California has been a national phenomena for a few years now and how it affects the climate and economic aspects of the United States economy has helped increase awareness to the general public of the United States. California has a majority of all farming in the U.S., including crops that are exclusive to California , These crops that are vital for our survival have been hindered by the droughts of the western United States and California.. The impact of the agricultural industry in the United States has been greatly impacted by the effects of the drought in southern California. The Californian drought of the 21st century effects what the rest of the country receives in terms of produce and crops from California. Therefore the American people that live other places in the U.S. should have more concern for the drought of California than they have today. We need to find other ways,
Indeed, if we accept the danger of global warming to be a real and present one, then the question of how to address it must be given serious consideration. Research conducted from as early as the 1950s through the present has afforded us a solid understanding of its causes. In the most basic sense, the problem lies in the burning of carbon-based fossil fuels such as carbon and oil which leads to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2). Gases such as CO2 are referred to as greenhouse gases (GHGs) which accumulate in the atmosphere. GHGs can
U.S. Conditions like Florida and other states with a high range of hot spells are perfect