Climate change has become a serious concern for the world in recent times. With various human activities worsening the world’s climate even more, scientists are working hard to find different solutions to combat the situation.
At the 2016 Paris Climate Change conference, where various political parties and activists gathered to discuss climate change, an agreement was passed with an aim to prevent global temperatures from rising. However, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates argued there should be more effort put in than just a cut in global emissions to combat climate change. As a solution, Bill Gates, along with many other billionaires, launched a fund to invest in innovative technologies which will help combat this issue.
Global warming due to food and agricultural practices is a major concern for researchers and activists right now as it is estimated the global population will increase by 3 million people by 2050. This increase in population will require us to convert more forests and other ecosystems into agricultural fields to accommodate the need of the world population, resulting in the emission of 15 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.
According to a report issued by the World Bank and the United Nations, there will be 50 % expansion of global food needs by 2050, with an increased need for meat based food products. It will require the conversion of nearly 600 million hectares of land for agricultural use and to meet the food requirements of the global population.
With a focus on finding solutions to the food related climate change issues, scientists are working on innovations for the reduction of food loss and waste and for the conservation of peatlands which release huge amounts of carbon dioxide after being converted to farmlands. They are also working on projects to help in decreasing the use of fertilizers in the agricultural field, which causes 20 % of the agricultural emissions in the environment.
Scientists are working on modern technologies like CRISPR Cas9, plant based meat replacements and compounds which stop fertilizers from being converted to nitrous oxide by soil microbes.
CRISPR Cas9 is a modern genome editing tool used in the manipulation of DNA and can be used to create or delete an entire genetic trait in a species. Scientists are working on using the technology to improve plant breeding by altering the genetic traits of various crop plants to improve their quality and increase their resistance from biotic and abiotic stresses.
World’s dependance on meat based food products is also a major concern in terms of climate change as there is no way to meet the meat requirements of 9 billion people worldwide. The solution to this problem is to develop lab grown meat and meat alternatives, undertaken by companies like Beyond Meat. Beyond Meat, which acquired an investment from Bill Gates, produces plant based meat burgers. These meat burgers are made entirely from vegetable protein obtained from peas and can be used as a replacement to meat.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas which plays a major role in global warming. Majority of the methane in our ecosystem comes from our livestock, with a single cow releasing 3 tonnes of methane into the atmosphere every year by burping. Scientists at DSM Company developed a methane reducing feed additive which can make cows give out less methane.
There are other innovations done by researchers such as the use of solar power to produce hydrogen in nitrogen based fertilizers, using nontoxic spray on films to increase the shelf life of food items and developing crops which can absorb nitrogen, a major contributor to global warming.
It is a major challenge to feed an increasing world population without increasing the global temperatures, but with scientists working on technologies like CRISPR Cas9 and plant based meat food, there is still hope to achieve the impossible goal of combating climate change.
