Climate Change

Also see  reduction strategy, glyphosate 2,  climate change, health, and wildlife section, Wildlife section/insects/insects p 2 

Carbon Markets Entrench Pesticide Use  (Beyond Pesticides, August 27, 2024)     In recent years, powerful agribusiness corporations—including Corteva (chlorpyrifos) and Bayer/Monsanto (glyphosate)—have made significant progress in becoming leading providers of carbon markets based in the United States. Advocates, farmers, and communities view the misrepresentation of carbon offsets and trading as a climate solution in a strategy that undermines proven alternative systems of agriculture and land management (aka organic).   Based on Civil Eats’ reporting, Bayer/Monsanto with Climate FieldView and Corteva with its Carbon Solutions program, cite their pesticide products as tools for sustainable agricultural practices, such as no-till/reduced-till agriculture and cover cropping. “Independent” carbon trading platforms, such as Indigo and Nora, have begun partnering with Bayer and Corteva respectively because they view collaboration as an opportunity to expand their services to new clients (e.g., farmers who are trapped in the toxic pesticide dependency treadmill).    CropLife International, a pesticide trade association that represents Bayer, Corteva, and other manufacturers of pesticide products, submitted a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2022 emphasizing the recognition of pesticides as a critical tool for climate-smart farming practices as USDA developed its Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program.      Both organic and conventional farmers who are navigating the introduction and expansion of carbon offset tools remain concerned “that carbon markets would inadequately support a full range of beneficial soil management practices,” 

Pollinator Health: The Climate Crisis Weakens Bees’ Ability to Withstand Pesticide Exposure    (Beyond Pesticides, September 13, 2023) A study published in Global Change Biology finds climate change increases bees’ sensitivity to pesticide exposure, impairing the pollinators’ ability to respond to light (Ultra-Violet UV stimuli), reducing floral syrup consumption, and lessening longevity (length of life) up to 70 percent. Notably, the reduction in floral syrup consumption indicates nutritional stress that further impacts bee species’ fecundity (productiveness), driving bee declines. Unless more is done to combat the climate crisis, the current global warming scenario increasing bees’ sensitivity to pesticide exposure will continue to threaten all pollinator health.  The study analyzes the synergistic (combined) effects of global warming and sublethal insecticide exposure in the solitary bee (European orchard bee/horned mason bee) Osmia cornuta.

Petrochemical Pesticides and Fertilizers Linked to “Shocking” Health and Environmental CrisesToday, Beyond Pesticides released a special issue, Transformative Change: Informed by Science, Policy, and Action of its journal, Pesticides and You, with a compendium of “shocking scientific findings that compel us to act in our communities, states, and as a nation and world community.” The 168-page issue documents the last year of scientific, peer-reviewed articles, policy deficiencies, and action for change that intersect not only with petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers, but with existential health crises, biodiversity collapse, and the climate emergency.  Included in the issue of reviews of published articles spanning three categories—health, biodiversity, and climate.

Glyphosate Weed Killers Reduce Crop Yields and Hamper Climate Mitigation Efforts(Beyond Pesticides, February 15, 2023) Finnish study of two separate experiments on the grass Festuca pratensis, an important forage crop grown for grazing animals throughout the world. For all experiments and plot variables, none saw glyphosate use have a positive impact on yield or biomass.   (E)ven among uncut grasses, those grown in glyphosate-sprayed soils showed the lowest root biomass. Chlorophyll content also followed this pattern, with those in the most intensively cut grouping showing the lowest content if also grown in soils where glyphosate was applied.  “This demonstrates a tremendous limitation to the potential carbon binding and storage belowground when soils are polluted by pesticide."

Resilient, Sustainable and Equitable and Food Systems in the Face of Climate Change  (Rachel Bezner Kerr, PhD, National Pesticide Forum, Beyond Pesticides, Health, Biodiversity and Climate, a Path for a Livable future, 29 November 2022), followed by Organic Agriculture for Climate Mitigation by Andrew Smith, PhD. The whole presentation can also be found at Beyond Pesticides national forum recordings 2022. The link above is to Beyond Pesticides Youtube channel.     Rachel Bezner Kerr, PhD, is a Professor in Global Development at Cornell University, and does research in Africa on sustainable agriculture, climate change adaptation, food security and nutrition. Andrew Smith, PhD, Chief Operations Officer at Rodale Institute, is passionate about growing the organic movement by providing science-based solutions to farmers and facilitating opportunities to expand the number of organic farmers and farmland across the globe. He is coauthor of Regenerative Organic Agriculture and the Soil Carbon Solution.

Pesticides & climate change: A vicious cycle (PANNA,10 November 2022)   with link to the executive summary in English, Spanish and French.   New report indicating that pesticides contribute significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while, at the same time, climate change is expected to increase pesticide applications. It’s a vicious cycle. Real solutions: Despite these findings, the reduction of synthetic pesticide use has been omitted from climate change solutions. Instead, synthetic pesticide use has been presented as a climate change mitigation strategy by industrial agriculture interests.    The real solution addresses all sides of this vicious cycle: agroecology! The adoption of alternative agricultural systems minimizes or eliminates synthetic fertilizer and pesticide use while increasing the resilience of our farming systems to better withstand climate change impacts.