"A Jolt to Complacency on Food Supply"

Last year, in 2012,  the American Corn Belt was greatly affected by a harsh heat wave and drought. In the beginning of the year the Agriculture Department even predicted the largest corn harvest in the history of our country, but the unsurprising climate change dashed hopes. Due to this heat wave, many plants withered, prices rose, and the harvest was 27 percent lower then the Agriculture Department predicted. This drastic plunge is still being discussed by United States scientists, but many believe that climate change caused by human interaction, might be the answer.

This may not be an impending problem at the moment, but in the near future the effects of climate change on our food supply can be disastrous. The impact of global warming on the world's food supply could lead to a rise in hunger and even starvation. In years past scientists have hoped the that increase in carbon dioxide, due to global warming, would be more beneficial for plants than the heat was detrimental. Recently though, scientists have discovered that even though the carbon dioxide is good for the plants, the heat counteracts that. It is going to require even more research to determine the full effects of Global Warming on different plants. One thing is sure, if heat waves continue to strike like the one last year, then the food supply will take definite plunges and in order to survive we will have to find solutions.

Researchers have proposed there may be a few things that can be done to protect plants from the possibility of damage from heat waves. In order to be protected from massive heat waves, crops can be planted sooner and new varieties of plants can be developed so that they are more resistant to climate changes. The intergovernmental panel has also proposed a global carbon budget, that limits the carbon output to no more than one trillion tons of carbon. Since 1870, 515 billion tons have been calculated from the human carbon emissions. This means that, if that budget is approved, we have already exceeded half of it, but we will still have many more years to contribute to the apparent climate change.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/science/earth/warning-on-global-food-supply.html?_r=0