Climate Change Concerns: “Water, water everywhere?”

[Farmers will need to grow 70% more food by that time (i.e., 2050)... . Mar. 12, London Free Press]

In 2050, farmers (local, national, international) will be working their butts off trying to feed 9,000,000,000 people. Chances are, they’ll face dozens of challenges.

Ugly consequences related global warming, climate change, lack of clean fuel sources, etc., will surely be felt by all farmers, and if a recent United Nations study is even half-accurate, they’ll have a heckuva time finding a decent glass of water to cool off with at the end of a long day in the fields.

So too will you and I. (Though I’ll have to reach the age of 101, don’t count me out. Great-grandmother Gordon reached her 104th or 105th birthday when I was a child, and I may be as resilient as she was).

Here are a few numbers from the UN study:

Demand from agriculture, which already uses 70% of the earth’s fresh-water supply, is likely to rise by about 20% by 2050

Demand will be driven by a growing population, predicted to increase by two billion people (and reach nine billion) by 2050

Demand will also be driven by rising living standards, i.e., farmers will need to grow 70% more food by that time because individuals are demanding “more food, and meat in particular”

Demand, demand, demand... sounds like the first three acts of a very scary stage play. And it gets scarier when we realize the 70% predicted increase in food will be demanded by a 29% increase in population.

So, when a study says now that “the world’s water supply is being strained by climate change and the growing food, energy and sanitary needs of a fast-growing population”, we should be thinking now about stringent conservation techniques - related to food and energy production, water use and sanitation - that will guide us toward a sustainable future.

And what should ‘stringent conservation techniques’ include?

Stay tuned.

[Photo by GHarrison]

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