Reading Response 1

Name: Bui Duc Huy

Student Number: L9938154

Title: Italy sees 57% drop in olive harvest as result of climate change, scientist

says

Date: 5 March 2019

Author: Arthur Neslen

Source: The Guardian

Link to the article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/05/italy-may-depend-

on-olive-imports-from-april-scientist-says

Summary:

Currently, the amount of olive harvest decreases rapidly because of extremes weather

such as climate change, erratic rainfalls or spring drought. It is estimated that

approximately 57% of olive harvests were lost. It is an alarming rate and be extremely

hazardous, which did not see this phenomenon in the past, to the growth of Olive trees.

Scientist acknowledged that these issues might lead Italy to dependent on imports olive

by 2004. Thousands of Italian growers or farmers, who wore gilet vest to demonstrate

against the local government, are concerned about this problem which create negative
things to the quality of agricultural products. Therefore, the Italy government has

promised to find suitable solutions to resolve this problem. Olive trees are affected by

weather shocks. However, it is easy for them to outbreak of bacteria and olive fly

infestations which has attacked farmers in Greece, and Italy if Olive trees recover.

According to Italy’s Coldiretti farmers’ union, they calculated that the prices for Olive oil

collapse were approximately €1bn. It is a large amount of money which collapsed by the

spread of climate change. Additionally, experts predicted that olive harvests will drop

both Portugal and Greece: 20 percent and 42 percent, respectively. Greece agricultural

products were destroyed by both extreme droughts and heavy rainfall. According to

Pyrgiotis, the quality of Olive is not good this year because of fungus, fly attacks. The

EU anticipated that Spain producer will save Olive by a surge. Yet a speaker in Met

Office said that global agriculture will be destroyed potentially by both pest, disease and

climate change in the future.

Respond:

I have a decision to choose topic about climate change because this topic can assist me

to comprehend plenty of controversial issues and I am extremely interested in seeking

out environmental problems, especially climate change. Currently, the article has

represented the amount of Olive harvest decreases at the recent times because of

climate change. This serious issues influenced on Olive trees in Italy. As a result, most

local farmers will face challenges to develop these Olive trees because of lack of

finance. However, climate change also has created a negative impact on another

country all over the world, especially Vietnam. Vietnam is one of the best countries
which produced agricultural goods to satisfy global consumers. Therefore, extreme

weather also has created disaster to Vietnamese farmers. Take Ca Mau farmers as a

typical example, they grown watermelon and had prediction to sell these crops in Tet

holidays. Yet the amount of watermelon has been devastating by erratic rainfall. As a

result, some farmers did not have enough money to enjoy Tet holidays perfectly.

Therefore, Climate change is one of the major issues which most countries are been

challenging, including Vietnam. The quality of Vietnamese agricultural crops is affected

seriously. However, human impact created the cause of climate change. People have

exploited and extracted natural resources. As a consequence, the proportion of natural

resources exhausted seriously. So this is the main reason for climate change.

Therefore, it is a major disaster which the Vietnamese government also tried to find

solutions.

In my point of view, this news is reliable to most global readers because it provides

warning information to people about olive harvests in Italy. In addition, the author also

quoted famous researchers and experts about these serious issues to assist readers to

understand more clearly. The purpose of writing this news want to offer credible

information and specific figures about climate change to raise people awareness of the

significance of protecting natural environments and preserving Olive trees all over the

world.

Word counts: 332

Vocabulary:

-mitigate(v): to make something less harmful, serious, etc.

Ex: The Vietnamese government has mitigated graduated unemployment at the recent

years.

-erratic(v): not happening at regular times; not following any plan or regular pattern; that

you cannot rely on

Ex: His attitude is quite erratic when working at the company

-protest(n): the expression of strong disagreement with or opposition to something; a

statement or an action that shows this

Ex: Italian farmers create protest to fight against the government

-anomalous(adj): different from what is normal or expected

Ex: In a summer season, it looks like rain. Therefore, the weather is quite anomalous