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ppetite for Change,
a report prepared by leading climate scientists David Karoly and Richard Eckard
at the University of Melbourne, reveals the impact that shifting rainfall
patterns, extreme weather, warming oceans, and climate related diseases will
have on the production, quality and cost of Australia’s food in the future.
From wheat, seafood and
dairy products to poultry, meat, grains, and fruit and vegetables, the effects
of global warming on a list of fifty-five household food items has been
compiled for the very first time.
“It’s definitely a
wake-up call when you hear that the toast and raspberry jam you have for
breakfast, for example, might not be as readily available in 50 years-time,”
said Associate Professor Richard Eckard from the University of Melbourne.
“Or that there may
be changes to the cost and taste of food items we love and take for granted
like avocado and vegemite, spaghetti bolognaise and even beer, wine and
chocolate.
“It makes you
appreciate that global warming is not a distant phenomenon but a very real
occurrence that is already affecting the things we enjoy in our everyday lives,
including the most common of foods we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he
said.
Professor David
Karoly, co-author of the report, said that out of all the impacts global
warming is having on Australian farms, increases in heatwaves and bushfires
pose the biggest threat to Australia’s agricultural regions.
Read about the
report and access it here - “Appetite for Change: new MSSI report”.
