Climate Change Affect on Tea
Published on January 17, 2014. By Alexander Reid.
Tea produced in China is changing flavor, smell, and health
contributions due to climate change. The students at Tufts University are
studying how the weather is affecting the properties in tea. Tea provides benefits
to health and prevents many different health problems (including problems with digestion,
heart, and blood). Unfortunately, chemical components in tea are adjusting due
to climate change, and the quality of tea is decreasing. In result of the tea’s
chemicals decreasing, the flavor has also changed and health benefits have
decreased. This may affect the tea industry by reducing the demand for tea; tea
is one of the most popular drinks around the world, but the changes may cause
the number of buyers to decrease. Also, many farmers will have to change their
way of farming so it corresponds with the changing climate. Scientists are
currently studying the effects the climate changes have on tea to make a
generalization about most other agriculture.
This article relates to our lessons about ecology and
chemical properties in life. We learned about global warming (climate change)
and how it changes weather patterns, in result effecting all life and nature.
Global warming is caused by carbon dioxide and other chemicals in the
atmosphere which create the greenhouse effect (gases that can’t escape the
atmosphere and trap heat). We also learned about chemical properties and how
they affect life. In the article, the climate changes affected the composition
of chemicals in the tea, making the tea produce different features (in taste,
smell, health factors). Chemical reactions are constantly breaking and bonding
when exposed to different conditions (like temperature).
The climate change that is impacting tea is also foreshadowing the future of agricultural plants. You wrote that "...many farmers will have to change their way of farming so it corresponds with the changing climate." What will the farmers actually be doing in effort to prevent climate change from slowing down their agricultural production?
ReplyDeleteOne thing farmers will be using to adjust to climate change is irrigation. By increasing the use of irrigation (more water added (by machines/equipment) to land to help crops grow) crops can still get healthy amounts of water despite increasing temperatures and other effects of climate change. Some effects of climate change are higher temperatures and less rainfall, so plants will need enough water to support their growth; the more use of irrigation will help the crops get enough water. Also, farmers are changing what crops they grow. Many of them are have stopped growing certain crops and are switching to different ones that still flourish in the area (even though conditions are changing).
Deletehttp://blog.nature.org/science/2013/06/25/climate-change-farming-adaptation/
http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/rb15_08.pdf
Has climate change caused tea to grow at different times of the year, affecting the tea industry further?
ReplyDeleteYes - climate change has resulted in one tea season in a year instead of two. Every year there are two harvest times: March-April, and Novermber-December. However, there is now delayed, longer seasonal winds (called monsoons) and changing precipitation patterns. Due to climate change, the results of these shifting patterns have caused the tea season to only be from July-October. This affects the industry because producers will need to spend more money to produce the same amount of tea as they had in other years, but they can't raise the price of tea due to competition between companies.
Deletehttp://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26754121