The Bugs Are Coming, and They’ll Want More of Our Food

Insect pests currently consume 20% of our crop plants worldwide. For every two degrees Fahrenheit that the temperature rises above the global historical average, the amount of crops that are lost to pests will go up by about 10-25%. Studies show that higher temperatures increase bugs' metabolisms and cause their life cycles to go faster, making them eat more and reproduce more quickly. Over time, this will lower crop yields, adding more pressure to the global food supply as the human population continues to grow. The heat will also cause plants to become dehydrated, lowering yields even more. While irrigation can help with dehydration and pesticides can lower the amount of pests, there is no telling how effective it will be. Pesticides may be at their maximum effectiveness, and they also harm other organisms, effect human health, and lead to even more global warming and pollution. I find this very alarming. Our food supply has already been an issue especially in non-developed nations, and there is no telling how badly the pests could hurt crop yields. We definitely need to invest more into figuring out ways to stop global warming instead of ignoring the issue at hand.


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Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 3, 2018 at 7:28 PM

    I was unaware of the correlation between crop consumption by insects and the increase in global temperature. This interestingly proves that the issue of global warming holds various impacts on multiple parts of the environment. The issue of pest control seems to not have as much attention focused on it compared to other aspects of the environment.

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 4, 2018 at 10:23 AM

    Wow, I had no idea that temperatures could affect bugs like that. This is pretty alarming; even a slight change can make a big difference in an ecosystem. And food supply is already a growing issue, so these pests could definitely wreak havoc. I hope advances are made in finding ways to get rid of pests, especially since the current pesticides are having different effects on the environment than what they were made for.

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