The United Nations
says (United Nations, un.org;
both images above are from this website):
“Climate Change”
refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns… Since the
1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily
due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.
Burning fossil fuels
generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the
Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.
The main greenhouse
gases that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These
come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building, for
example… Agriculture, oil and gas operations are major sources of methane
emissions.
Why
do you think that that UN’s list of enemies of Climate Change begins
with “Agriculture”? Asking like a friend!
Jummy Pinyapat
says (Verifik8, verifik8.com):
“Chemical Fertilizer In Agriculture: A Big Source Of Greenhouse Gas Emission.” An
agriculturist, what else can I say?
Now
then, farmers are guilty of being “Earth Fiends” instead of being “Earth
Friends!”
Yet, I am an Eternal
Optimist. I have been alarmed with the Climate Crisis since US ex-Vice
President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) co-won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2007 for their works on the global headache on climate. And
that was when I came to understand that Climate Change (CC) is man-caused. And
one of the major causes I have been interested in is Chemical Agriculture (CA)
– I learned that CA contributes much to CC and, therefore, our farmers who
apply so much chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides are so much guilty
of empowering their own enemy called “Climate Change”!
Our farmers do not know
that? “Ignorance of the law excuses no one,” the books say. “Not that all men
know the law, but ‘tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how
to refute him.”
Again, from the United Nations:
Many people think
climate change mainly means warmer temperatures. But temperature rise is only
the beginning of the story. Because the Earth is a system, where everything is
connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others.
When
William Dar was Director General
of the International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the institute had this
slogan: “Science with a human face.” With that Vision, Mr Dar led ICRISAT from the
bottom to the top of the CGIAR ladder of international science research
agencies that include IRRI. I say we need today a Secretary of Agriculture who
believes in the farmer. Let us now borrow from ICRISAT and have this slogan for
PH Agriculture: “Agriculture with a human face.” And that will help us defeat Climate Change!@517
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