Climate+Change

**The Paleo Problem** During periods of climate change, like the Younger Dryas ice age, Nomadic hunter-gatherers crowded around around water sources in areas like the fertile crescent. Their populations increased thanks to the abundant wild food in these areas. But, more people meant more food was needed. Good wild food sources like larger animals became scarce due to over-hunting.

**The Neo Solution**
Nomadic people began to grow their own crops and raise their own animals instead of relying on wild plants and animals. As the Younger Dryas ice age came to an end, the earth's climate became warmer and more stable. These are ideal conditions for agriculture. Farmers have to plant at just the right time in order to make sure their crops get just the right amount of water and sunlight. Too much water, and the crops drown or the grains are spoiled. Too little and they wilt and die. Stable, predictable climate is ideal for farming.

**The Dust Bowl** is an alarming example of how problematic agriculture climate change worked together to cause one of the biggest disasters in U.S. history in the 1930's. What can we learn from this?
 * MP4U: A Vicious Cycle? How Agriculture causes climate change & climate change hurts agriculture: **

Our climate is quickly changing today largely because of human activities. [|NASA scientists predict our earth will change as a result of human caused climate change in these ways.]

Ironically, [|**agriculture is the largest** **cause of global climate** **change today**].

Some agricultural practices like burning fields to clear the land in preparation for planting crops like rice, sugar cane and palm oil put even more carbon back into the atmosphere. See examples of smoke filling our air from agricultural burning in [|Indonesia] and northern Thailand.

Global warming is causing more erratic climate: sometimes it is colder or wetter than usual. At other times it is warmer or dryer. Rain is coming at different times and in different amounts. Major storms are becoming more common. [|This causes new problems for us and our agriculture].


 * More on the impact of climate change on agriculture: **

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 * **The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)** says more carbon emissions will mean more dangerous extreme weather events. Read more: ** [|http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/11/18/ipcc-report-global-warming-and-changing-population-will-worsen-the-toll-of-extreme-weather/#ixzz1egGQJG2V] **
 * **Climate Change and Farming** This Time magazine article talks about how climate change threatens our food supply.
 * [|3,500 climate records were set in the U.S. in 2012]! Our climate is changing already. What can we do?
 * [|Higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may lead to less nutritious crops]

**Climate change is already threatening daily survival for some groups of people** like the [|Tuareg] and [|Hoiakong.] Drying lakes and flooding coastal areas are two results of climate change that are making it difficult or even impossible to continue farming crops and raising or herding animals. Many must find new ways to feed their populations. Others must move in search of food and new opportunities, but it is difficult to find places to move to. They are **climate refugees.**

Trying to decrease climate change through changes in agriculture:

 * Some groups already trying to help farmer adapt to climate change:EPA, CCFAS, The World Bank
 * EPA Student's guide to climate change
 * Better Food, Better Climate: Improving agriculture can improve our climate

__**Can we** Geoengineer **our climate to protect our agriculture?**__

 * **Geoengineered Food?** This NPR article discusses the possibilities and the risks.