Rose, M. P. (2023, January 23). How pesticides intensify global warming. Grist. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://grist.org/agriculture/a-new-report-says-pesticides-intensify-climate-change/ 

California uses nearly 20% of all pesticides used in agriculture in the United States. However, “less than .01 percent of pesticides” actually end up killing the pests they were meant to, creating a huge amount of pesticides being wasted and ending up in water supplies, soil, and the air. In addition, the manufacturing of pesticides greatly impacts the environment, especially in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The emissions from making these pesticides end up accelerating global warming and climate change

This article shows the large impact just one part of California’s agriculture industry has on the environment. The sheer amount of greenhouse emissions from producing pesticides for California is enormous and not only does this affect the atmosphere, but overusing pesticides also leads to a large amount of water contamination and soil contamination causing a whole group of other environmental issues. The thing that shocked me the most is how little pesticide is actually effective. I believe that farms should definitely use less pesticides even if it means losing a few crops, the damage done by pesticide overuse is utterly insane. This is also one of the environmental impacts that I think is the most overlooked. I don’t think I have seen any laws that affect pesticide use, other than general safety measures to make sure the food is safe to eat.