Do plant scientists hold the key to saving vulnerable populations in a changing climate?
Do plant scientists hold the key to saving vulnerable populations in a changing climate? How should plant researchers prepare to deploy their knowledge to maintain food security in the future—as well as to promote renewable energy, sequester carbon pollution from the atmosphere, and even synthesize medicine?
Between 2030 and 2050, climate change will cause about a quarter of a million deaths each year through malnutrition, infectious disease, and extreme heat, according to a 2018 World Health Organization report. Economic losses related to climate change are projected to be several hundred billion dollars a year in the U.S. alone by 2090. And we are losing species at the highest rate we have seen since the dinosaurs went extinct; a phenomenon that scientists have coined “the sixth extinction.”
Carnegie’s Sue Rhee and David Ehrhardt, along with NYU’s Kenneth Birnbaum, argue that we must drastically improve our understanding of plant cell structure, function, and physiology in order to mitigate the assaults to human health, the economy, and the environment brought on by climate change. Originally published by Trends in Plant Science, their editorial calling for a Plant Cell Atlas is now part of Cell Press special collection on conservation. Today they are launching a project website calling for a kick-off workshop to convene leaders from diverse fields to brainstorm how best to create this community resource.
Read more at: Carnegie Institution for Science
Photo Credit: photosforyou via Pixabay
