I’ve written about the link between food security (or insecurity) and climate change several times here on Eat Drink Better this year, and others have as well. Here are 11 of our top climate change & food posts from the past…
Heat, Not Just Precipitation Changes, a Major Crop Concern
It’s long been understood that precipitation changes from global warming (i.e. droughts and floods) pose major crop problems. However, what has not been so widely discussed up to now is how much heat, itself, could cause considerable crop problems. Crops scientists are now finding, though, that this is a major problem.. already.
Peanut Butter Prices Rising Due to Climate Change
Jeannie wrote about peanut butter becoming more scarce a couple months ago. As she noted at the time, incredible U.S. drought was the cause of this. These are just some of the effects of global warming that we have been warned about for decades, of course.
Now, with scarcity, prices rise. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that several major peanut butter brands are raising prices, considerably.
10 Most Climate-Ready Cities in the U.S.?
Boyd Cohen, Ph.D. recently came up with a methodology to rank large cities in the U.S. based on how much they are preparing for or trying to counter climate change. He then went on to create and publish a top 10 list of the most “climate-ready” cities. While I think the term “climate-ready” is sort of a mistake, since he focuses more on efforts to stop climate change not adapt to it (which is what I would assume “climate-readiness” would be about), I think the overall idea and methodology looks great.
UN: More Sustainable Farming Needed to Feed the World
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) proclaimed today that we need to switch from the intensive farming practices of the past half-century to more sustainable agricultural practices if we want to feed the world in 2050.
New York Times, Oxfam, & Others Pick Up the Climate Change–Food Insecurity Story
You may be getting tired of my stories on climate change and food, but I think this is a critical topic already significantly affecting the lives of tens of millions of people (or more) that will become increasingly important in the years to come (if we don’t do something to address climate change NOW).
I’m not the only one trying to draw a little more attention to this critical topic, but not many big media agencies have been doing so (yet). This weekend, though, the New York Times published an above-the-fold, 4000-word, front-page story on the matter! The title: A Warming Planet Struggles to Feed Itself.
Greenwashing Genetically Modified Crops
One of the biggest weapons in GMO companies’ arsenal is the claim they make repeatedly that genetically modified (GM) crops are needed to help feed to world in the face of global climate change. There’s one problem with this claim, though — it’s total greenwashing and untrue.
Food Security & Global Weirding
Now, this didn’t hit me until recently, but if you don’t follow climate science closely (or much at all), you may have a hard time making the connection between climate change (or global weirding) and food security or food prices.
Earth Day, & Why I Do What I Do
Earth Day… Earth Day, Earth Day. What to say today? I spend most of the day every day writing about environmental issues and solutions to them. So many hours every day, and every week and month and year.
Why do I do it?
Earth Hour — Tomorrow!
If you haven’t heard, what has been deemed the largest grassroots environmental movement in history — Earth Hour — is tomorrow evening at 8:30pm (your time).