Agriculture: Can it Reduce Climate Change?

Agriculture is the science or practice of farming. It includes the cultivation of soil for crops and the breeding of animals for food, wool, and other products. It is safe to say that agriculture has become a large part of our lives because let's face it, we would not be able to survive without it. However, as the population has grown north of seven billion, agriculture has become much more large scale in order to support these numbers. (Even then, our current agricultural systems are far from perfect and are inadequate to feed all members of our exponentially growing population). With these massive increases in the volume of agricultural farming done each year, agriculture has become an increasingly more pressing issue regarding climate change.

As many of you know, plant-based agriculture uses manure to provide crops with the nutrients they need to produce favorable yields. However, one of the byproducts of this tactic is methane gas. As you probably guessed, this is not a good thing, and it actually isn't because this gas contributes to climate change. Methane traps heat in the atmosphere, essentially locking that heat in by preventing it from escaping into space. Take an oven for example. You turn it on and let's say you set it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat created by your oven will not escape. This is because the oven is designed to circulate that heat and redirect the rising heat (because heat rises) back down in a continuous cycle. This is similar to the effect of methane on climate change because instead of the oven trapping heat and forcing it back down onto the surface of the earth, methane does this. Now yes, you must be wondering why I am going on about global warming (if it wasn't clear, that is what I was discussing previously) when I clearly stated that methane gas contributes to climate change. Well, global warming has a great effect on climate change and it is one of the leading causes of climate change today. The increase in agricultural area means more methane emissions, which means more global warming, which means more rapid climate change. This is the main effect of agriculture on climate change, and while there are many others, for sake of this article, please visit https://www.epa.gov/agriculture/agriculture-and-climate#:~:text=Changes%20in%20ozone%2C%20greenhouse%20gases,change%20may%20hinder%20farming%20practices for extra information.

This is a big problem that affects the whole world because while it would be easy to just cut down on agricultural area (which would effectively reduce methane gas emissions and the subsequent effects), the issue of starvation and lack of adequate resources comes to mind. For example, here in Mission Viejo, we are privileged with grocery stores that are stocked full of fresh, organic produce. However, this availability and abundance that we live in is because of larger agricultural areas that have resulted from the increase in population size over time. This is the exact problem that the United Nations (UN) is tasked with solving. Every world issue is a game of balance: a solution has to benefit all sides of the issue. This is why we as a community do our part to reduce our impact on the environment so that compromises like those in the UN over the world's most pressing issues do not have to take place. The reason why agriculture's effect on climate change is such a hot topic right now is because its effects are being exacerbated by the effect us humans are having on climate change with fossil fuels, littering, etc. Everything about us makes things like methane gas more sinister, which is why, again, we must do our part.

Now, I know what you must be thinking: this article is about if agriculture can reduce climate change. I am here to tell you that yes it can! We have all heard of fossil fuels, but have you ever heard of bio fuels. Bio fuels are just as they sound. They are energy sources like ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas, which are created from plants and other naturally occurring, sustainable resources. While the increase in agriculture has increased the effect of methane, it has allowed for increased access to a sustainable resources that is already being implemented in things like aviation and motorsports.

At the end of the day, while the effects of agriculture on climate change may seem horrendous, it is because of us that it is this way. The negative aspects of increased agriculture are met with the good because of things like bio fuels, which have become an even hotter topic in many sectors because of the access to this resource that has presented itself in recent times. Agriculture has a lot to offer in the fight to slow climate change, and we are just beginning to unlock the true potential of this sector in aiding in our fight.