Article Reflection No. 65 (8/27/2023)

Article: “Climate Risks Loom Over Panama Canal, a Vital Global Trade Link”

Reflection:

In The New York Times article “Climate Risks Loom Over Panama Canal, a Vital Global Trade Link”, journalist Somini Sengupta reports droughts and heat jeopardizing the Mississippi River and Panama Canal. As transporting goods (such as American wheat and corn, which are major goods that travel through the Mississippi River) slow down and become more costly, U.S. consumer prices may increase. Additionally, Sengupta writes, the warming oceans also threaten trade routes as they exacerbate the intensity of storms. The significance of this shift is illustrated by the sheer scale of goods transported through ocean shipping: 90% of all goods. This has prompted ships to reduce the amount of cargo they carry, allowing a maximum 32 ships through the Panama Canal waterway each day.

The climate is linked with the goods that we encounter in grocery stores each day. Transporting goods from one region to another releases carbon into the atmosphere, only exacerbating the climate crisis. By being aware of this correlation as well as the one presented in Sengupta’s article, I hope that this information is an incentive for large corporations to take action. To abate droughts’ negative effects on trade waterways—for their own success in the future.