OLDS — There’s not much the agriculture industry can do to combat climate change if a United Nations (UN) report is correct. But there is a wee bit of wiggle room if changes can be made that keep the industry solvent, an Olds College researcher says.
According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, since 1970, surface temperatures across the globe have risen faster than in any other 50-year period over the past 2,000 years.
The report listed five possible scenarios. In the best case, the earth will warm by around 1.4 degrees by the end of this century. In the worst case, temperatures will rise by 4.4 degrees.
The report says if action isn't taken fast, the world could be hit with increasingly extreme heat waves, droughts and flooding, well beyond what has been experienced this year.
It says there’s a 90 per cent chance that human influence has caused those higher temperatures which are resulting in rapidly melting glaciers and sea ice.
UN secretary-general António Guterres called the report a "code red for humanity."
Joy Agnew, Olds College’s associate vice-president of applied research, gave a talk on agriculture and climate change during AgSmart, the college’s agriculture technology expo, held Aug. 10-11.
Agnew said at that time she hadn’t had a chance to review the report in detail.
“We’re at the tipping point or past it already,” she told reporters.
“I haven’t reviewed it in detail. I don’t know the details, but it’s definitely alarming how many wake-up calls we seem to be having over the last couple of years, even.
“If we focus on reducing our overall footprint, adopting practices and strategies that make sense without inhibiting our ability to grow food and have family farms be sustainable, that’s really all we can focus on.
“If we’re already too late and if it's already over the cliff, I mean, there’s not a whole lot ag can do,” Agnew added with a short laugh.
