Report: Warming May Lower Rice Yield

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- Global warming could mean bad news for one of the world's most important crops, rice.

Increased nighttime temperatures were associated with significant declines in crop yield at the International Rice Research Institute Farm in the Philippines, according to a report in Monday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Indeed, an average daily temperature increase of 1 degree Celsius resulted in a 10 percent reduction in the rice crop, according to the researchers. One degree Celsius equals about 1.8 degree Fahrenheit.

Increasing temperatures, thought to be a result of heat trapped by industrial and other chemicals in the atmosphere, have caused mounting concern in recent years. Scientists have argued over the potential effects of climate change on crops, largely basing their contentions on laboratory tests and computer models of climate and crop yield.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-climate-rice,0,5667701,print.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

These findings back those released last year from a 17 year study. We can feign surprise at the coming famine.

[htuttle]

1. There's kind of a Perfect Storm shaping up regarding food supplies

Global warming will cause desertification in many areas, and lower crop yields in others.

Add to that the rising cost of petrochemical fertilizers that all commercial farming depends on to produce the yields that they do, and we've got a potential, even probable, catastrophic famine in the near future.

[patdem]

2. Let's see...6 billion people on earth and about 1 billion

able to afford to eat?? Could there be a problem here??? Maybe we should promote democracy so starvation could be made the fault of the electorate???

[Gregorian]

3. And why isn't anyone paying attention to the population?

At some point we HAVE to tell people that they cannot continue to breed IN SUCH LARGE NUMBERS. Or we will all pay a much bigger price than not being able to have four kids. I keep harping on this, and the world continues to simply ignore it as if it's taboo. Well, when the polls melt, and the rice won't grow, then what?

sorry. didn't mean to tag your post with my piss.

:Þ

[Massacure]

4. The U.S. and Europe don't have much of a problem with population

It is mainly Asia and Africa. Try telling the poor people that they can't have kids to do the dirty work so the family can make ends meat.

Africa is probably just going to end up get decimated by AIDS anyways. 1/3 of everybody south of the Sahara has it.

The U.S. needs to shift away from corn, and the world needs to shift away from cotton. These crops are horrible for the environment.

[Gregorian]

6. So true. It is just sad.

And another part of the problem is that we are already six billion. It's kind of, sort of, too late. I tried- Didn't have kids. Don't travel. Don't drive but seldomly. Don't buy new things. But it didn't do any good. My life has been so affected by this subject. That humans could alter the entire planet.
"We'll all go together when we go."

[Mace]

5. rice

tastes so good :(