As we have become increasingly knowledgeable in environmental sciences, we have also become increasingly confident in predicting the future. Studies released over twenty years ago have indicated how man-made climate change will impact our environment and so far the predictions have unfortunately been on point. To help understand how man-made climate change has affected nature, check out our post on Global Warming Facts.
It should be noted that droughts are naturally occurring and usually speaking tend to last about 7-10 years, the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s serves as a great example. However man made emissions were significantly lower when compared to what they are today.
Climate change has been responsible for an increase in sea-water levels (a huge issue in itself), on the land it can and has caused severe droughts. Water has become increasingly scarce and keeping up with the current demands for commercially available food only adds to the problem. Overusing soil to meet our overwhelming wants only leads to its detriment. The lack of water for farming is being predicted as a major cause for the “megadrought”.
Published in Science Advances, the NASA study examined dry and wet periods of tree rings dating back up to a 1000 years and compared them with soil moisture from 17 climate models in order to predict a future scenario. Check out the video from NASA to help understand the situation in depth!
Benjamin Cook at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York – also responsible for leading the analysis – says, “instead of lasting maybe 10 years, these mega-droughts will last 20, 30, maybe even 40 years.” He added, “Most importantly, they are droughts that, once started, will last a really long time, longer than ever seen in the US. It’s not going to be transient either. There will be new average drier conditions.” Currently, several major food producers of the world, including California, are suffering through a horrendous drought. A situation we hope gets resolved soon. But seeing how difficult of a time farmers are having now, it is depressing to imagine what the famers of the future will have to deal with.
We want all our readers to understand the consequences of our current hazardous practices. Sure, a situation like drought is inevitable, but must we really act as catalysts in the process? Governments all around the world must elevate climate change to a higher level of importance and work together to help delay these consequences as much as possible. After all, it is our responsibility to foresee a livable environment for our descendants.