Posted on 02/14/2018 8:24:30 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Hummus, the beloved Middle Eastern dip, is in danger. Chickpeas are going the way of the cheetah.
For rather different reasons, both plant and cat are suffering from genetic bottlenecks that reduce their ability to cope with change. And in a warming world, change is happening. In contrast to the cheetah, the domestic chickpea could still be saved by crossing with wild breeds that still exist, to restore lost genetic diversity, wrote Eric Bishop von Wettberg, a plant biologist at the University of Vermont, and others in Nature on Tuesday.
ake an example from people: Those with darker skin are better suited to the intense ultraviolet radiation characterizing the tropics, while those with lighter skin are better suited to sunless climes. If all humans had the same characteristics, they would all be suited to only one clime and couldn't have survived in every corner and armpit of the world.
In other words, the chickpea that makes the hummus that Israelis eat by the ton is in danger from climate change.
The problem applies to the whole Middle East and Indian subcontinent, and Ethiopia for example, where the chickpea is a staple source of protein.
Perhaps ironically, salvation may come from the region where man possibly first domesticated plants: Anatolia. The scientists found wild chickpea varieties there that hold "great promise," von Wettberg says, as a source of new genes for traits like drought resistance, resistance to pod-boring beetles, and heat tolerance.
The entire Mediterranean basin and Levant are heating faster than the rest of the globe as climate change advances, and face extreme desertification down the line, according to climate models. The wild chickpea itself will be in need of saving before it can save the chickpea crop and the hummus hounds of the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
BS. My chickpea crop is doing just fine.
face extreme desertification down the line, according to climate models
Which have NEVER even been close to accurate, and always gives the same result regardless of the data input into them.
How do these guys do it? Just begin with a vague thought about last night’s dinner and go from there off the top of their shallow-skulled heads or what?
LOL! As I turn the ribs over on the grill while perusing FR, I think “What the hell is this ‘huuuumus’ stuff and why is the world going to end?” Then I swig the beer, turn the ribs over...
(I do know what hummus is and I like it, but...Goebbels would understand the article quite well...:)
The people running these studies see what they want to see
Why don’t the stupid things just evolve?
I guess you don’t live in “the entire Mediterranean basin and Levant [which] are heating faster than the rest of the globe.”
That has to be the reason your chickpeas are doing fine. Just ponder the plight of those chickpeas in less fortunate parts of the world.
They say crap like the world is warming without a single shred of evidence. Total liberal brainwashing.
It COULD become extinct? Well, hell, if you’re THAT certain, by all means, change the climate back.
Thanks Oldeconomybuyer. Because hummus is imaginary, like AGW? ;^) Pass the lentil chips (those are particularly tasty with hummus, though pricey, ****in' organic food hucksters).
While I think this sort of thing is totally bogus from start to finish, I never understand the specific concern —
Imagine a crop which grows in Kansas, and virtually nowhere else. But “Global Warming” is making Kansas too hot. Will this crop become extinct?
Hey — why don’t we grow it in Nebraska? Maybe Nebraska isn’t perfect for the crop today, but — in this “warming” world, won’t Nebraska be perfect in a few years?
If not Nebraska, perhaps South Dakota? Or North Dakota? or Alberta?
Somewhere — despite “Global Warming” — there must be a location where this precious crop can be grown in an environment which is like it’s old environment. As one place becomes “bad” doesn’t another place become “good”?
It is amazing just how stupid these people think we are.
Another reason to vote in favor of global warming. Maybe I won’t have hummus taking up space in my fridge. My wife always buys it and tells me how great it is (I can’t stand the stuff) but it’s always getting tossed out because nobody bothers to eat it.
Women and minorities to be hardest hit.
This scare tactic will only scare vegans.
“BS. My chickpea crop is doing just fine.”
Yes, tough $hit for the ME, but we have plenty here.
Can CAGW get rid of Hamas?
I plan to sponsor a chickpea plant for assimilation in the USA.
(Is that actually a Fiestaware bowl?)
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