Climate Change threatens Food and Water Supplies, while Farming and Land Practices fuel the change, says new U.N. Report

Changing climate imperils global food and water supplies, new U.N. study finds

Agriculture and other land use accounts for 23 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

by Brady Dennis | Aug 8 2019 | Washington Post

The world cannot avoid the worst impacts of climate change without making serious changes to the ways humans grow food, raise livestock and manage forests, according to a landmark study Thursday from an international group of scientists.

The sprawling report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) examines how land use around the world contributes to the warming of Earth’s atmosphere. But the report also details how climate change is already threatening food and water supplies for humans: turning arable land to desert; degrading soil; and increasing the threat of droughts, floods and other extreme weather that can wreak havoc on crops.

It makes clear that although fossil fuel-burning power plants and automobile tailpipes are the largest drivers of climate change, activities such as agriculture and forestry account for an estimated 23 percent of total human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

“We already knew that humanity’s over-exploitation of the Earth’s lands is a key driver of climate change, and that we need to take urgent, ambitious action to address these issues,” Jennifer Tabola, director for global climate strategy at the Nature Conservancy, said in a statement. “We have a choice: do we balance the needs of human development and nature, or do we sleepwalk into a future of failing farmlands, eroding soil, collapsing ecosystems and dwindling food resources?”

Four years ago in Paris, world leaders agreed to take aggressive action to keep global warming to “well below” 2 degree Celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels. Their aspiration was to limit warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (the world has already warmed 1 degree).

But Thursday’s report, which includes the work of 107 experts from 52 countries, underscores that meeting those goals will require fundamental changes not only to the transportation and energy sectors, but also by cutting emissions from agriculture and deforestation — all while feeding growing populations.dd

Last fall, IPCC scientists found that nations will need to take “unprecedented” actions to cut their carbon emissions over the next decade to avoid devastating effects from rising seas, more intense storms and other impacts of climate change.

[The world has just over a decade to get climate change under control, U.N. scientists say]

They also detailed how such a radical transformation would require large swaths of land currently used to produce food to instead be converted to growing trees that store carbon and crops designated for energy use.

“Such large transitions pose profound challenges for sustainable management of the various demands on land for human settlements, food, livestock feed, fibre, bioenergy, carbon storage, biodiversity and other ecosystem services,” the authors wrote at the time.

A significant amount of agricultural emissions comes from livestock — primarily from the belches of cattle. Additionally, while all soils emit some nitrous oxide, soil on farms often emits higher levels because of nitrogen that is added in the form of manure, fertilizers or other material. Meanwhile, deforestation in places such as the Amazon and Indonesia has harmed the ability of forests to retain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Community Event: The People's Food Movement

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Shouldn't good food access match the needs of the people? 

Organizations from across Buffalo are working together to host The People’s Food Movement, a free, public event to ensure that community needs drive food access and policy.

The event will take place on Saturday, April 8, from 1:30pm to 4:30pm at the Delavan Grider Community Center, 877 East Delavan Ave, Buffalo. 

Help us bring Good Food to ALL Buffalo Communities!

Among food policy advocates, “good food” is generally recognized as being nutritious, grown sustainably, and produced with fair labor. Organizers of The People’s Food Movement insist that good food should also be equitably distributed.

At the start of the event, a light meal will be provided by the Buffalo Public Schools’ Food Service Department, showcasing their Farm to School menu items. This will be followed by an interactive education and advocacy session covering topics including:

• How to implement an urban growers policy in the City of Buffalo (Food Policy Council for Buffalo and Erie County)
• How to bring a Good Food Purchasing Program to Buffalo institutions (Crossroads Collective & WNY Environmental Alliance)
• How to support sustainable agriculture through an “organic action plan” (Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY)
• How to establish a regional network of black farmers (African Heritage Food Co-op & Crossroads Collective)

Families in attendance will also be invited to create art and share their stories related to issues accessing good food in Buffalo.

Wendell Berry - Visionary, Author, Farmer, Activist

Introduction and Video from Moyers & Company.

 Wendell Berry, a quiet and humble man, has become an outspoken advocate for revolution. He urges immediate action as he mourns how America has turned its back on the land and rejected Jeffersonian principles of respect for the environment and sustainable agriculture. In a rare television interview (video, below), this visionary, author, and farmer discusses a sensible, but no-compromise plan to save the Earth.

Bill Moyers profiles Berry, a man of the land and one of America’s most influential writers. Berry's prolific career includes more than forty books of poetry, novels, short stories and essays. The interview was taped in Kentucky during a conference celebrating Wendell Berry’s life and ideas and marking the 35th anniversary of the publication of his landmark book, The Unsettling of America.

Berry lives and works on the Kentucky farm where his family has tilled the soil for 200 years. He’s a man of action as well as words. In 2011, he joined a four-day sit-in at the Kentucky governor’s office to protest mountaintop mining, a brutally destructive method of extracting coal.

Moyers explores Berry’s views on civil disobedience as well as his strong opposition to agribusiness and massive industrial farms. They also discuss Berry’s support for sustainable farming and the local food movement.

“My belief is that the world and our life in it are conditional gifts,” Berry tells Moyers. “We have the world to live in on the condition that we will take good care of it. And to take good care of it we have to know it. And to know it and to be willing to take care of it, we have to love it.”

CONFERENCE: World on Your Plate

For more information, visit WorldOnYourPlate.org or call 716-839-8524.