From Evangelical preachers to “doomsday preppers,” people have their own predictions about what will cause the end of the world. The threats facing the world today are far more tangible than a massive solar flare, or a zombie apocalypse.
Could the lowering crop diversity because of genetically modified (or GM) crops be the end of us? Could it be the “super pests” that GM crops create that kill off, and harm the ecosystem?
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Or is the end of the world come from the extinction of necessary species we need to grow, and cultivate plants?
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Or could our downfall come from our own designs, from a massive war, and nuclear exchange?
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With a lowering biodiversity in plants, in part due to GM crops, ecosystems are being harmed. The United Nations, in weighing GM crops’ pros and cons said “GM crops could pose a threat to crop biodiversity, especially [in] areas that are centres of origin of that crop...GM crops could ....substitute traditional farmers' varieties and wild relatives that have been bred, or evolved, to cope with local stresses.”
GM crops are engineered to grow faster and yield more. This allows them to easily invade new areas. They also create more resilient weeds and insects by having the stronger pests survive and reproduce. Since many GM plants are genetically identical there may be a shared weakness, which if exploited in one means all of its copies are susceptible as well.
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According to the National Academies Press “Homogeneity and uniformity can offer substantial advantages...but this same genetic homogeneity can also reflect greater susceptibility [to] pathogens….[more] uniformity over large areas, the more vulnerable such varieties are to losses from epidemics.” Mass crop failures could happen if destructive super pests are able to kill swathes of GM crops all with uniform genetic code.
With biodiversity, plants are genetically diverse and have various strengths and weaknesses among its own species. This means that super pests could only affect some, and not all of a species.
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“GMOs resistant traits can strengthen invasive species,” said junior Casey Felton. “I don't think it's as much of a threat to the ecosystem, as it is to biodiversity. A superbug or pest might eliminate competition by taking in more nutrients that others in the ecosystem need. An unbalanced ecosystem will collapse, and if an environment collapses that we depend on, it can threaten the food we eat.”
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In a report by Charles Benbrook of Washington State University, it stated: “Stable reductions in insecticide...now in jeopardy as a result of the emergence of corn rootworm…. resistant [to] toxins expressed in several corn hybrids.” And according to the USDA, nearly 90 percent of all corn crops in the US are GM crops. Not all GM crops share the same exact genes and each company has their own unique strains, but they are widespread. Which means if one pest could kill just one. GM crop, all of its other copies are at risk. Without biodiversity, there are risks of mass crop failures since GM crops have homogenous DNA and genes.
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The endangerment of bats and bees are detrimental to the world’s ecosystem. These animals are crucial to the pollination, and reproduction of plants. According to Think magazine, bees and other pollinators pollinate 87 percent of the plants we use regularly for food, medicine, and raw materials. And 70 percent of the world’s crops need pollinators to grow and reproduce. In addition, they grow biodiversity through cross-pollination across species of plants.
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“We need plants to grow and pollinators are an important part of that,” said junior Risako Nozaki. “Wind and human pollination, are not as efficient as bees and other animals. It’s less work for us, and it’s the animal's’ natural job in the ecosystem. If they are gone, animals that eat them will start to go away, and the animals they eat will over populate. The chain of the ecosystem will begin to break.”
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Aside from threats to the environment, war is a possibility. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has a hypothetical Doomsday Clock. The clock’s time is determined by how close the scientists believe nuclear destruction is. Midnight is when it will hypothetically occur, and we were are the closest we’ve been to midnight since the 1980s, at two and a half minutes till midnight.
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“It is possible, it really depends on who starts shooting who,” said history and international relations teacher Jarrod Harrison. “I don’t doubt a regional conflict could escalate. Tensions and conflicts are everywhere. There likely won’t be a nuclear free-for-all, but a more limited exchange, but it would still heavily damage electronics and the environment, and hurt economically strategic locations.”
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War hurts a country’s people, infrastructure, and economy. If a large international war with a nuclear exchange were to occur, the environmental damage would hurt the ability to grow foods and necessities to life.
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Despite the gravity of these threats, they are still in the future. Threats to the biodiversity of the environment by GM plants, and their creation of super pests. Threats to the environment by the extinction of pollinators. Threats to the environment, economy, and infrastructure from war. “What it all comes down to is the environment. I think it’s good to limit the use of GM crops, and preserve wildlife. Everything goes back to the environment, and we need it to survive,” said Felton.
