Marie Dorline Desir

English 1121

Prof. Penner

My final research question is: What effects does climate change have on Agriculture?

My topic for this research paper is: How does climate change affect agriculture?

I have been interested in this topic for many years. I am fascinated that our earth has physically changed over billions of years. Planet earth looks so different now than how it looked millions years ago. Our planet has gone through many incredible if not unbelievable changes. According to the BBC article, Earth was a Frozen Snowball when Animals First Evolved, 715 million years ago our planet was covered in ice and snow. Most of life was wiped out and the average temperature was -20 degrees Celsius. Then, in more recent times during the Cambrian period 543 to 490 million years ago, the majority of North America was under water. Earth has gone through different natural climate changes millions of years ago. If earth has physically changed, then it makes sense that over hundreds of years how people grow their food has changed as well. Some people are hunters and gathers, some people are farmers. Even now, people grow crops based on their environment. I would like to learn how climate change affects how we grow crops in America.

www.bbc.com/earth/story

Why I am interested in this topic?

My friends, family, and practically everyone I know has said to me, “Gee, I don’t remember a summer that’s been quite this hot before” or ” Whatever happened to spring, we’ve gone right into summer.” These questions started me thinking more and more about climate change. Maybe climate change is a ‘real’ issue for me to be concerned about. Also, I have read many articles in the paper about climate change. Now, I’d to do a research paper about this issue. I thought if the earth is having extreme weather changes then the farmers must be affected too. In my mind , I was picturing a farmer living out West grumbling because it’s another day of rain and he/she can’t plant the corn seeds.

What answers do I expect to find in response to my question?

My hypothesis for this research paper is: if the earth’s climate is changing than agriculture will be adversely affected.

What I hope to find in my research is that there is a connection between climate change and the agriculture industry. As the earth’s temperature heats up, flooding and droughts will occur as well. Agriculture will be affected by this events in a negative way. some of the things I believe will occur is that crops will be destroyed, the land will become too muddy for planting crops, and farms might even shut down. Farmers might have to plant different kinds of crops that they are used to growing. The planting season might change as well becoming too long or short. These events would be detrimental for humanity . I also hope to show that climate change is not caused by the natural changes in the earth’s atmosphere. Climate change will be caused by people destroying the earth. We are burning fossil fuels at alarming rates. For example, think of all the greenhouse gas emissions being released into our atmosphere from the car industry.

What would I do if I find something that does not fit into my hypothesis?

If I found something that does not fit my hypothesis, I would still include that information into my research paper. I believe this information would make my paper even more interesting. I would write these results into the conclusion part of my research paper.