By Alex Ramirez
The future of Earth’s habitability is questionable in the midst of record breaking heat waves, hurricanes and wildfires ravaging the globe. As environmental scientists call for immediate action to be taken by global superpowers to reduce their carbon footprint, they are largely ignored by those in power or met with climate denial altogether.
Within the 118 United States Congress, of the sitting members, 23% of the members are climate deniers, who refuse the concept. Of these congress members, notable figures such as Senator Ted Cruz, Senator John Kennedy and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, are among the deniers who have made names for themselves by taking controversial stances on major topics that the general public largely disagrees with, climate change being one of them.
With the recent inauguration of President Trump on Jan. 20, 2025 came a flurry of controversial executive orders that began his first day in the oval office. Of the President’s many new executive orders came “PUTTING AMERICA FIRST IN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS.” This order is stated by the President to, “put the interests of the United States and the American people first in the development and negotiation of any international agreements with the potential to damage or stifle the American economy. These agreements must not unduly or unfairly burden the United States.”
The result of this order is the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement which was formed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, France, in 2015. The purpose of said agreement by 196 parties focused on the reduction of rising global temperatures and the limitation of greenhouse gases being emitted with a peak in 2025 and a 43% emission decline by 2030. This leaves the United States alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen, the only three countries to have joined the agreement.
Despite the denial by congress members and the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the evidence of climate change is glaring in the face of record breaking weather disasters that have dramatically affected California. With the rise of volatile, unpredictable weather brings the risk of mudslides, flooding and water damage to property. Equally with the other extreme of droughts, warm winds and fire raises the risk of wildfires, crop failure and large amounts of destruction to California.
A major cause for concern amidst the consequences of climate change is crop failure which is especially important in California which grows “over a third of the country’s vegetables and over three-quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts,” according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. With excessive flooding, less resilient crops may drown and be lost in the
growing process while in the case of wildfires, crops may be incinerated altogether or may be unharvestable due to smoke damage making them inedible. Although farmers attempt to test their crop for its harvestability after a wildfire, the scale of damage and acreage may be too large for proper testing as well as said testing being done in an efficient enough manner to confirm what is safe enough to collect.
While this may appear as bleak information, the study of genetics and how specific genes affect crop growth and resilience may be the key to the future of farming in California. Students and researchers at UC Davis have recently edited the genes of wheat crops in order to encourage a longer, more branched root system in wheat in order for the plant to seek water and nutrients deeper in the Earth’s soil which would help the crop be more resilient in a dry, drought ridden climate. Just as well, the team at UC Davis has been studying how rice is resistant to flooding and what about their genetic makeup makes them survive when other crops do not.
By isolating what genes in plants make them resistant to extreme climate conditions, researchers and farmers may plant and structure farms in ways that can survive either extreme of fires or floods. Through these means, the future of farming in California looks a bit brighter by adapting to future climate change.
