As we wonder when the chill of autumn will hit in earnest, should we be worried about the recent headlines predicting out-of-control climate change. We may ask ourselves ‘Is this just alarmist media?’ ‘Should we be concerned?’
The summer of 2018 saw temperatures rise not just here but across the globe, Australia suffered the worst drought in memory – millions of hectares of arable land covering most of South-East Australia was reduced to dust, crops perished; foodstuffs and water had to be imported in, just to keep livestock alive. Here at home the scorched and barren landscape of the British Isles could be clearly viewed from satellite images, such was the scale.
Without a doubt, climate change does represent a very serious threat to global food security and ultimately to a social stability crisis. Scientists have modelled data with the slowest predicted rate of global warming forecasting that yields of food crops will decrease up to a staggering 45% within the next eighty years.
Crops require sunlight, water and food to flourish but as temperatures rise, crop yields will start to fail. Decreasing sunlight and a decrease in precipitation due to the continued effects of climate change makes the relocation of crops to cooler locations a poor solution to this growing crisis. Access to food and water may soon become the primary cause of social unrest and conflict. It is therefore prudent we plan for the catastrophic problem climate change poses long before it happens and ultimately leads to the untimely destruction of our planet.
Hillside Product Design firmly believes that we need to make our food production methods more robust before widespread famine - the true effect of climate change is upon us all. Positive action needs to be taken and the technology to combat this needs to be developed today.
Tomorrow is quite simply too late!
If you’ve got an idea you want to develop to help combat the effects of climate change, we have the expertise to meet and exceed the growing technological demands of Agritech. We work closely with all our clients to ensure they have all the support they need throughout the product development process.