The Impact of Climate Change on Food Security

Overview

The United Nations (UN) has hired you as a consultant, and your task is to assess the impact that global warming is expected to have on population growth and the ability of societies in the developing world to ensure the adequate security of their food supplies.

Case Assessment

As the world’s population nears 10 billion by 2050, the effects of global warming are stripping some natural resources from the environment. As they diminish in number, developing countries will face mounting obstacles to improving the livelihoods of their citizens and stabilizing their access to enough food. The reason these governments are struggling even now is that our climate influences their economic health and the consequent diminishing living standards of their peoples. Climate changes are responsible for the current loss of biodiversity as well as the physical access to some critical farming regions. As such, these changes in global weather patterns diminish agricultural output and the distribution of food to local and international markets. These difficulties will become even more significant for these countries as the Earth’s climate changes for the worse. Temperatures are already increasing incrementally, and polar ice caps are melting, so the salient question is: what does this suggest for developing societies?

The issue before the developing world is not its lack of food, but rather how to gain access to food. Simply put, changes in our climate are affecting the global food chain, and hence, the living standards of entire populations. Added to this is the fact that food is not getting to where it is needed in time to prevent hunger or starvation. In many developing countries, shortages are due to governments’ control over distribution networks rather than an insufficient supply of food itself. In effect, these governments are weaponizing food by favoring certain ethnic or religious groups over others. When added to dramatic climate changes that we are experiencing even now, the future for billions of poor people looks increasingly dim.

Instructions

You are to write a minimum of a 5 page persuasive paper for the UN that addresses the following questions about the relationship between atmospheric weather patterns and food security in the developing world:

1. Climate change and global warming are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same phenomenon. What are the differences between the two concepts and what leads to the confusion between them?
2. In 1900, the average global temperature was about 13.7° Celsius (56.7° Fahrenheit) (Osborn, 2021), but as of 2020, the temperature has risen another 1.2°C to 14.9°C (58.9°F). According to the Earth and climate science community, if the Earth’s surface temperature rises another 2°C (3.6°F), we will suffer catastrophic weather patterns that, among other things, will raise sea levels, cause widespread droughts and wildfires, result in plant, insect, and animal extinctions, and reduce agricultural productivity throughout the world (Mastroianni, 2015 and Lindsey & Dahlman, 2020). How much credibility do you place in these projections? Why?
3. There is no question that the Earth’s food sources are threatened by changes in its weather patterns, but what specific challenges does climate change pose to the food security of people in the developing world?
4. There is currently a debate among some multinational lending agencies like the International Monetary Fund, UNICEF, and AID over the financial support for food security has been misused by recipient government officials. On the other hand, U.S. authorities insist that misuse of its assistance is not occurring because it has strict monitoring oversight in place. What is your position on this matter? Is there evidence that financial assistance to developing governments is being widely misused by government officials?

Guidelines

1. This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). For assistance and information, please refer to the SWS link in the left-hand menu of your course and check with your professor for any additional instructions.
2. In order to earn full credit, your paper must be divided into at least four full pages of content (one page to address each of the four questions above), and include at least a one-half page introduction and a one-half page conclusion – making a minimum total of five full pages of text.
3. You must use at least seven credible sources (excluding Wikipedia, dictionaries, and encyclopedias) that are appropriate for the subjects under discussion.
4. You must use only double-spacing and not place extra spacing between paragraphs or section headings.

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is as follows:

• Evaluate the impacts that climate changes are having on the growth of global populations and the security of their food sources.

References

Liz Osborn. 2021. History of Changes in the Earth’s Temperature. https://www.currentresults.com/Environment-Facts/changes-in-earth-temperature.php

Brian Mastroianni. 2015. Why 2 degrees are so important. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-un-climate-talks-why-2-degrees-are-so-important

Rebecca Lindsey and LuAnn Dahlman. 2020. Climate change global temperature. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature

  

Week 11: The Ending Stage and Evaluation

The ending stage of a group is just as important as the beginning stage. Effective termination is an important part of the therapeutic process and an expectation of the NASW Code of Ethics (1996). Some members of the group may need further therapy or services, and it is the responsibility of the clinical social worker to assess every member’s needs. Also, the members should feel that some type of closure has occurred, and this is often done through ending exercises. These exercises help the members of the group say goodbye to one another and acknowledge the group’s accomplishments. Another important part of the ending stage is the evaluation of the group intervention. The NASW Code of Ethics (1996) requires that some type of evaluation method is implemented in clinical practice. The social worker should evaluate the group’s goals and the level of success of the group process.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze termination process      with families and groups
• Evaluate appraisal methods      for group process

  

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

· Chapter 13, “Ending the Group’s Work” (pp. 395-416)

· Chapter 14, “Evaluation” (pp. 417-443)

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014). Social work case studies: Concentration year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing [Vital Source e-reader].

· “Working With Organizations: The Southeast Planning Group” (pp. 51–52)

London, M. (2007). Performance appraisal for groups: Models and methods for assessing group processes and outcomes for development and evaluation. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 59(3), 175–188.

  

  

Assignment: Assessing Group Process 5

Provide a 600-word paper:

For this Assignment, 

–  Describe the overall process of the group and your feelings about the group experience.

– Choose an evaluation method described by Toseland & Rivas (2017) or London (2007), and use it to evaluate your group (i.e., analysis of the product, group questionnaire).

– Identify something you might have changed during this process and describe what you could have done differently.

–  Group Process Assignments should integrate course concepts related to group process. 

– Assignments should demonstrate critical thought when applying course material to your group experience. 

– Support ideas in your Assignment with APA citations from this week’s required resources. Must contain at least 3 references and citations.

 Theory Development and Evaluation

In the field of nursing, it’s important to examine the science and art of theory development and evaluation. One of the most critical components to nursing is the idea of theory development as it helps to advance knowledge of the discipline. Historically, most nursing theorists did not set out to create a nursing theory. Most published authors began building a theory as a way to improve care delivered to patients, either through improving direct clinical practice or by educating future nurses (Alejandro, 2017). These theorists were considered risk takers with lifetime commitments to the nursing profession as a whole (Alejandro, 2017). By seeking to improve and change the way nurses’ practice, researchers have been able to study ways in which to create standard works from evidence-based practice as a working theory (Butts & Rich, 2015). The different components of a theory such as the concepts, statements, and theoretical assertions further explain the said theory and its importance.  

Furthermore, nursing theories set forth into motion the better understanding of nursing phenomena and guide scholarly development of the science of nursing practice through research (Butts & Rich, 2015). A nursing theory aims to address a phenomenon of a particular interest that is being proposed with several considerations follow, such as its completeness and logic, internal consistency, and correspondence with empirical findings. The basics of the theory also need to be determined whether it has been defined operationally for testing (Butts & Rich, 2015). By analyzing in this way, the researcher is able to further develop the theory in a logical manner (Butts & Rich, 2015). The theory is developed by accumulating scientific evidence with rigorous research to either refute or support the proposed statements. Nursing theory development is not hard to understand, they are created in a pursued systematic scholarly effort. Strict development of nursing theories, then, is a high priority for the future of the discipline and the practice of nursing profession (Alejandro, 2017). 

Overall, the systematic development of theories allows for best implementation and peer evaluation. The one aspect that all theories have in common, of each approaching theory development in a precise, systematic manner, allows for one to make the stages of development explicit. Nurses must systematically assess their proposed theory of nursing and then publish it for the nursing community to review and debate engages in a process that is critical to advancement of theory development (Alejandro, 2017). Then, as the scholarly work is published as literature and peer-reviewed, other nurse theoreticians and researchers review and critique the adequacy of the logical processes used in the development of the theory (Alejandro, 2017). These unbiased reviewers are able to evaluate with fresh eyes the relation of the theory to practice and other available research findings (Gray, Grove, & Sutherland, 2018). Overall, theories are explicit and open to question and examination as part of their development and implementation (Nilsen,2015).  However, if deductions from a theory are incorrect, the theory can be adapted, extended or abandoned. Theories are more consistent with existing facts, which usually means a hypothesis based on an established theory is a more educated guess (Gray, Grove, & Sutherland, 2018). Furthermore, theories give individual facts a meaningful context and contribute towards building an integrated body of knowledge (Alejandro, 2017). 

References

Alejandro, J. (2017, February). Lessons learned through nursing theory : Nursing2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020, from https://journals.lww.com/nursing/Fulltext/2017/02000/Lessons_learned_through_nursing_theory.12.aspx 

Butts, J. & Rich, K. (2015). Philosophies and Theories for Advanced Nursing Practice (3rd edition) Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning ISBN:978-1-284-11224-5 

Gray, J., Grove, S. & Sutherland, S. (2018). Burns and Grove’s The Practice of Nursing Research: Appraisal, Synthesis, and Generation of Evidence (8th ed.).St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier. ISBN: 978-0323377584 

Nilsen, P. (2015). Making sense of implementation theories, models and frameworks. Implementation science : IS, 10, 53. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-015-0242-0 (Links to an external site.)

As you conduct your clinical work, it is likely you have wondered about the efficacy of different approaches to clients and their presenting problems. Imagine that you notice in a routine chart review that a group of children with emotional disturbances has a pattern of functioning relatively well for a while and then deteriorating. This makes you curious because you have worked with some of the children’s families and, based on your observations, you believe the waxing and waning of family disorganization might have something to do with the children’s condition. How might you explore the questions you have regarding this situation?

For this week’s Application Assignment, you consider questions you would like to answer regarding clinical practice and select one to address in the Assignment. You apply your clinical skills and experience to describe and analyze this question. Then, you conduct a literature review on the topic and consider additional steps you could take to explore this topic more deeply.

The Assignment (8–10 pages):

Select one question you would like to answer regarding clinical practice and provide the following information on this topic:

• Identify the question you are investigating and explain why you want to address it.
• Provide background information on the question you are addressing.
  • Include your personal observations related to topics that are relevant to the question.
  • Include information about theories and theory-based interventions that are relevant to the question.
• Include a summary of what current professional publications and literature present regarding this topic.
• Suggest how you might collect additional data on your question and describe the findings you might expect.

By Day 7