Climate Change and Genetically Modified Food

Social issues are the factors that affect how human beings live. One of the most prominent social issues in the twenty first century is climate change and genetically modified food. The two issues are somewhat related since climate change has changed weather patterns, forcing human beings to change their farming methods one way to adapt to climate change has been genetically modified food.

Both climate change and genetically modified food have subject to rigorous debate and there lacks consensus regarding the issues.

The following paper will examine these issues.

Climate Change

In simple terms, climate change is the general change in weather patterns. These shifts have severe effects that threaten to change the earth as we know it. The topics surrounding climate change are the causes of climate, coping with climate change, and the policies that are being used to tackle climate change. Causes of climate changeThe earth’s temperature can be said to be a balancing act. The earth’s temperatures depend on the balance between the amount of energy leaving the earth’s system, and that entering the earth’s system. For over a century, human activities have been dominant as the causative agents of climate change. Humans have expanded the greenhouse house effect, and the earth’s atmosphere is now trapping more heat that’s being radiated from the earth’s surface.

Coping with climate change

There are simple measures that people can use to minimize climate change at the domestic level. For instance, since waste pilled in landfills gives off methane, one can compost garden trimmings and kitchen scraps rather than dump them in landfills. In addition,one should always recycle glass, paper, metal, and plasticGlobal social policiesSocial policies are the practices of agencies and governments which affect the welfare of societies. The goals of these social policies have been to protect people from the risks that come with climate change, while at the same time building human capacities to adapt to climate change and equitably promoting the wellbeing of people everywhere.

The social policy that helped me and many others to curb climate change is the Durban Platform for Enhanced action. This policy extends the previously existing Kyoto protocol, which had set obligatory greenhouse emission targets for the developed nations for the first commitment period of between 2008 and 2012. The extended policy is applicable to all nations of the world, developed and developing alike.

Genetically Modified Foods

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are crops created using agricultural biotechnology by altering the original genetic structure of natural crops in order to improve their sustainability and resistance to different climatic conditions. The topics on GMOs include their purpose, the issues regarding their production, and their benefits.The Purpose of GMOsThe main aim of GMO engineering has been to take advantage of advancements in research and technology in order to increase the survival rate and rate of production of different plants in answer to growing environmental and food security problems.

The first genetically modified crops were successfully created over two decades ago. Since then, there has been major debate over their benefits and drawbacks that has divided people and nations. Some sectors remain adamant that GMOs cause more harm than they provide help while others remain firm over their utility.

Issues Surrounding Production of GMOs

The main issues with the application of this technology remains over the different concerns on safety and quality standards. There have been many cases of below standard products being sold which pose a lot of risks to both the environment and people”s health (IUCN). This has been one of the main reasons why GMOs have received a lot of negative attention since the bad press has taken over the original purpose of the foods. Since their invention, there have been many groups that rose up against them and launched major campaigns in order to get them banned.

This is necessary in order to curb substandard production.Another issue is that the genetic structure could be adopted by others around them over time leading, for example, to the creation of super weeds that are resistant to all forms of extermination. This is a realistic concern chiefly given concepts such as pollination and cross breeding. Especially in areas where wind plays a strong factor, pollen can be carried over kilometers meaning that the effect could be far reaching. The mixing of GMOs and natural seeds can produce mixed and unpredictable results and effects on the quality of crops and their edibility.The BenefitsGMOs have many benefits. They remain a great solution to the problem of food security.

According to the United Nations, the world’s population will be expected to rise to over 9 billion people by the year 2050. This represents an almost 30% increase from the current population in the next two decades. Coupled with this is the increasing threat of climate change and continued environmental degradation that continues to reduce the effective annual supply of food globally. The world therefore faces the conundrum of solving the issue of a rapidly increasing population in the face of decreasing food supply. Therefore, solutions such as the use of GMOs simply cannot be ignored despite the perceived drawbacks associated with them.

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