When people don’t have enough to eat, things unravel. History has repeatedly shown that when changes in climate cause food to become scarce, it severely tests the ability of a society to function. Today, the prospect of climate change caused by humans threatens agriculture on a global scale by debasing the planet’s ecosystems.
The value of ecosystems to humanity is well understood but not widely appreciated. Wetlands act as filter systems for water, provide habitat for fish and wildlife, mitigate flooding, and prevent erosion from storms. Forests provide timber and sequester vast amounts of carbon. The harvest of fish, from inland fisheries and oceans alike, is crucial to the world’s food supply. Land-based agriculture depends on natural water cycles, pollination by insects and support from rich microbial life in the soil. Human interconnectedness to other life on Earth is the fundamental truth of our ecological existence.
The warming climate of the 21st century puts new stresses on ecosystems that were already feeling the effects of overfishing, pesticides,
intensive agriculture, industrial pollution and a growing human population. With climate change, species must now adapt to higher temperatures, acidification, new pests and pathogens, extreme weather and changes in the length of seasonal cycles. Inevitably, species will fail, biodiversity will continue to
plummet and the delicate interactions and feedback loops that keep ecosystems functioning will break down.
