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Fast Company
18-06-2025
- Science
- Fast Company
Climate crisis could wipe out half of U.S. crops by 2100, scientists warn
A major new study published in Nature examines how rising temperatures will impact global food systems, and the results offer a dire warning for wealthy countries. As the planet warms, the environments that grow the most-consumed crops around the globe are changing, but there's been a lot of disagreement about what those changes will look like. Counter to some more optimistic previous findings, the new study finds that every degree Celsius that the planet warms could result in 120 calories worth of food production lost per person, per day. The new analysis is the result of almost a decade of work by the Climate Impact Lab, a consortium of climate, agriculture and policy experts. The research brings together data from more than 12,000 regions in 55 countries, with a focus on wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, barley and cassava – the core crops that account for two-thirds of calories consumed globally. 'When global production falls, consumers are hurt because prices go up and it gets harder to access food and feed our families,' Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Professor Solomon Hsiang, a senior author on the study, said in an announcement paired with the new paper. 'If the climate warms by 3 degrees, that's basically like everyone on the planet giving up breakfast.' Adaptation won't offset farming losses Some previous research has hinted that global food production could actually go up in a warming planet by lengthening growing seasons and widening the viable regions where some crops can grow. In Western American states like Washington and California, growing seasons are already substantially longer than they once were, adding an average of 2.2 days per decade since 1895. The new study criticizes previous research for failing to realistically estimate how farmers will adapt to a changing climate. While prior studies rely on an all-or-nothing model for agricultural climate adaptation where farmers either adapted flawlessly or didn't adapt at all, the new paper in Nature 'systematically measure[s] how much farmers adjust to changing conditions,' a first according to the research group. That analysis found that farmers who do adapt by switching to new crops or changing long-standing planting and harvesting practices could lessen a third of climate-caused losses in crop yields by 2100. But even in a best-case scenario of climate adaptation, food production is on track to take a major hit. 'Any level of warming, even when accounting for adaptation, results in global output losses from agriculture,' lead author and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Assistant Professor of agricultural and consumer economics Andrew Hultgren said. While wealthy countries are insulated from some of the deadliest ravages of the climate crisis, the new analysis reveals a U.S. food supply that is particularly vulnerable. Researchers found that the 'modern breadbaskets' that haven't yet explored climate adaptations will fare worse than parts of the world where extreme heat and changing weather has already forced farmers to adapt. 'Places in the Midwest that are really well suited for present day corn and soybean production just get hammered under a high warming future,' Hultgren said. 'You do start to wonder if the Corn Belt is going to be the Corn Belt in the future.' In a high-emissions model of the future where humans fail to meaningfully slow the march of global warming, corn production would dive by 40% in the U.S. grain belt, with soybeans suffering an even worse 50% decline. Wheat production would decline 30 to 40% in the same scenario. 'Because such a large fraction of agricultural production is concentrated in these wealthy-but-low-adaption regions, they dominate projections of global calorie production, generating much of the global food security risk we document,' the authors wrote, adding that farming in the U.S. is 'optimized for high average yields' in current climate conditions but is not robust enough to withstand a changing climate. 'This is basically like sending our agricultural profits overseas. We will be sending benefits to producers in Canada, Russia, China. Those are the winners, and we in the U.S. are the losers,' Hsiang said. 'The longer we wait to reduce emissions, the more money we lose.'
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Harvard graduate criticizes university for fighting Trump more than antisemitism
Harvard alumnus Jonathan Harounoff told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Harvard is putting more effort into fighting against the Trump administration than addressing antisemitism on campus. "I think it's part of an increasing trend of the university putting all of its resources and force and weight behind fighting against the White House and… spending much less time fighting against antisemitism and the problems that have got the university to where we are now," Harounoff told Fox News Digital. Harounoff, Israel's international spokesperson to the United Nations, reacted to President Donald Trump's feud with Harvard amid the administration's crackdown on antisemitism and allegedly harboring pro-Hamas sentiments on the Ivy League school's campus. Trump Accuses Harvard Of Being 'Very Slow' To Turn Over Foreign Student Info Harounoff said Harvard should not be a place for endorsing violence and harboring students or employees who have "very unambiguous terrorist sympathies." "I suspect that the reason why Harvard is pushing back is just because it wants to protect all of its student population and that may be the case, but at the same time, the university – any university, any employer – can't expect the administration to accept students or employees who have very unambiguous terrorist sympathies," he told Fox News Digital. Read On The Fox News App Harounoff continued, "If those do exist, then they should be addressed head on, but we've seen on plenty of college campuses students and people who have no connection to anything to do with the university – on Columbia's campus and elsewhere." "You have people who unambiguously wave the flags of terrorist organizations, whether it's Hamas or Hezbollah, and who are chanting very proudly these openly antisemitic and anti-Western and anti-American slogans on a Western American, what's meant to be philosemitic campus, and that is not acceptable," he said. "And those are not just innocent protests – they're open calls for violence. The university should not be a space for endorsing such violence." Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Termination Of Student Visa Program "This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement announcing the administration's move to eliminate the student visa program due to "pro-terrorist conduct" during campus protests. It is a consequence of what DHS claims is Harvard's refusal to comply with its requests for behavioral records of student visa holders. Senior State Department officials told Fox News that not only are student visa holders being scrutinized, but all visa holders associated with Harvard are subject to investigation. Along with student visas, the State Department will be conducting a substantive investigation into B-1, or business visas; B-2, or tourist visas; as well as others, officials said. The investigation is aimed at identifying potential security vulnerabilities or other abuses of the visa system. The Department of Homeland Security is eliminating the student visa program at Harvard University due to "pro-terrorist conduct" at campus protests. Harvard has pushed back against the Trump administration by filing legal challenges to the president's orders. A court temporarily paused the Trump administration's move to cancel Harvard's student visa program after the university filed a lawsuit. The judge granted Harvard's request for a temporary restraining order to preserve the status quo while the case plays out in court. Harvard said the policy will affect more than 7,000 visa holders — nearly a quarter of the student body — and is a "blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act," per its court filing. Trump Administration Terminates Harvard's Student Visa Program Harounoff told Fox News Digital that one of the proudest moments of his personal and professional career was getting into Harvard. "As an international graduate student coming from England, my family was overjoyed, and it was a privilege, and it is a privilege of a lifetime. Harvard is the most famous university in the world. For a long time, it sat on the pantheon of great universities, educational institutions out there for people of all backgrounds, faiths, nationalities," he said. "And with that immense global recognition comes huge responsibility," Harounoff continued. "And that's why it's especially difficult and disappointing to see the university fight against the White House in recent months, much harder than it ever appeared to fight against antisemitism, the rampant antisemitism that had been enveloping the Ivy League campus, especially since October the 7."Original article source: Harvard graduate criticizes university for fighting Trump more than antisemitism
