How Does Climate Change Affect Food Production?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, recently studied climate change and how it affects food production.  What they found is what scientists already knew, and that is that we're in trouble if we don't change our ways.  First of all, we need to convince the naysayers to admit that climate change is real.  Only those with a financial or political interest are holding out.  The panel discussed how land use contributes to climate change and how climate change affects land.  It's a very complicated issue, with weather, soil, agriculture, livestock and forests all affected.

Our destructive patters of land use include agriculture, deforestation and development of wetlands.  They now contribute 23% of all human caused greenhouse gas emissions.  As average global temperatures rise, the land all species suffer-  heat, drought and dust storms are more intense.

The good news is that we still have time to change our ways.  We have got to conserve, restore and better manage land, as well as shift diets to more plant based foods.  The carbon dioxide released from the waste of livestock is adversely affecting the climate.  There are things that can be done to reduce carbon dioxide, but not enough is being done now.

Nutrients from plant based foods diminishe as the earth warms.  Our food choices are a major driver of changes in land.  Half of global human caused emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas 30X more potent than carbon dioxide, comes from agriculture, namely livestock and rice culture.

The problems and solutions to the problem of how climate change affects food production is extremely complicated.  The IPCC report should serve as a warning to everyone, that changes in agriculture, livestock and forests must be made.  Many scientists suggest converting to a more plant based diet, but personally, I think this would take decades to do in the U.S., if ever.  We should concentrating on maintaining soil that is safe, and ways to eliminate waste from livestock that will not affect climate.  Finally, forests and wetlands that have been destroyed by money hungry developers need to be replanted and maintained.