Over the past summer a new heat wave swept over what
is becoming a progressively warmer Europe. In the second week of July,
temperatures in Romania, Serbia and Croatia have consistently gone over 40
degrees Celsius, marking a prevalent increase in summer temperatures over the
last several years. These conditions are presumably an example of the future
warmer world in which we will live in as global warming seems to be making its
imprint.
Along with the heat came a variety of adverse effects
ranging from rising food prices to increased health concerns. For example, as
the heat intensified the drought already plaguing Romania, Europe’s second
largest agricultural exporter, corn and grain harvests have wilted away causing
a sharp drop in the available supply and increasing their cost. Furthermore,
farmers raising livestock now have to spend more money for fodder causing meat
product prices to rise as well. The heat also caused a substantial increase in
heat stroke and medical problems, with there being almost 6,700 medical calls
to the ambulance service in Romania over a 24 hour period. [1] [3]
These cumulative damages might not be catastrophic
at this point in time, yet as the world food consumption increases relying more
and more on high yielding crops and global warming intensifies, the chances of
heat waves having disastrous effects increases. The increase in
such heat waves might become unsustainable in the future, yet at this point in
time I believe their negative effects can be mitigated through careful planning
and better heat resistant crops. For example, researchers at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Zurich (ETH Zurich) have conducted studies suggesting the prevalence of
heat waves in the summer can be predicted from winter and spring rainfall [2]. Hence,
by leaving crop fields more prone to heat damage limp when a summer is
projected to be warmer, the negative effects on the harvest can be mitigated
while at the same time allowing the soil to recover. An alternative is to use genetically modified crops to better withstand the
elevated temperatures for summer that are predicted to be warm.
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