5 Ways to Reduce the Drivers of Climate Change.

Climate change is fundamentally a development issue. It threatens to exacerbate poverty and hurt economic growth. At the same time, how countries grow and the investments they make to meet the energy, food and water needs of an expanding population can fuel climate change, raising risks worldwide, or contribute to solutions.

Bus rapid transit has reduced traffic and
increased connectivity in Guangzhou, China.

In a lecture to students at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on March 18, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim laid out five key areas where policies and growth choices can help reduce the drivers of climate change.

“We have to keep the economy growing – there is no turning back on growth,” President Kim told the student audience. “What we have to do is decouple growth from carbon emissions.”

Read the report from The World Bank - “5 Ways to Reduce the Drivers of Climate Change.”

Changing Face of Agriculture and Food System into the 21st Century

Professor Mark Howden will later this month discuss the “Changing Face of Agriculture and Food System into the 21st Century”.

His presentation on Thursday, April 26 will address aspects of this nexus being faced by the changing demands on our food production systems into the 21st century.

The free public lecture is part of the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences' 2018 Dean's Lecture Series and more details can be found from the University of Melbourne website.

Rising CO2 levels are making your food less nutritious

Rising carbon dioxide levels are causing climate change. But they could also be making the food on your plate less nutritious.

This looks great, but as the world
warms it is becoming less nutritious.

Loladze: “Every time you eat, say, a carrot or a bread or potatoes, the quality of it is different than, all else being equal, it was, say, a hundred years ago.”

Irakli Loladze, of Nebraska’s Bryan College of Health Sciences, studies how carbon dioxide levels affect plant nutrients. He analyzed studies from around the world that examined the nutrient levels of plants grown in experiments with elevated levels of CO2.

The data include more than 7,000 samples of 130 plant varieties, including rice, wheat, and other grains, as well as fruits and vegetables.

Read the Yale Climate Connections story by Jan O’Brien - ‘Rising CO2 levels are making your food less nutritious.”

Asda sets out new plans to reduce plastic waste

Asda, one of the UK’s largest food retailers, has become the latest supermarket to announce immediate plans to reduce plastic waste in its stores.

The supermarket’s new plan, released this week, pledges to reduce the amount of plastic in its packaging by 10 percent this year.

It will do this by implementing a range of measures, including replacing 2.4 million plastic drinking straws with paper; launching reusable coffee cups; and phasing out single-use carrier bags.

All single-use cups and plastic cutlery will also be removed from its offices in 2018, and in stores by the end of 2019.

Read the ClimateAction story - “Asda sets out new plans to reduce plastic waste.”

Are You a Wizard or a Prophet?

The term “GMO” can be a Rorschach test. It makes some people see potential for plants that can grow in any ecosystem, resist drought and disease, and yield massive amounts of food and prosperity for all. Human innovation, this camp says, can get us out of any jam.

But many environmentalists see a racket that will give mega-corporations control over the world’s food supply and encourage thoughtless consumption. We are part of the Earth’s global ecosystem, the second group contends, we can’t “bio-hack” our way out of every problem.

In his latest book, The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World, journalist Charles C. Mann traces current incarnations of these world views to two 20th-century figures — agronomist Norman Borlaug and ecologist/activist William Vogt. Both men were unlikely scientists, and both have left their fingerprints all over environmental thought.

Read the story by Diana Crow form Neo.Life - “Are You a Wizard or a Prophet?”

The Real Question for Agricultural Sustainability

Sustainable Agriculture is the production of food, fiber, or other plant/animal products using farming techniques that protect the environment, human communities, public health and animal welfare.

The United States, for the geographical nerds out there, is surrounded and protected by two massive bodies of water: The Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Very strategic and the core for the Manifest Destiny of the 19th century.

The essence of agricultural beauty, resources and overall protection from land invasion by a neighboring nation was the main idea for the Manifest Destiny. This article is not to litigate the main purpose of that 19th century idea, but to rather bring to light one of the main pillars for that manifestation: agriculture and crops.

Read Ahmed Maneeb’s story on The Startup - “The Real Question for Agricultural Sustainability.”

The holes in Santa’s stocking: Mapping food loss from the farm and beyond

Imagine, just imagine, you withdraw $1000 from the ATM for Christmas and they slide out as they do, on their tiny conveyor belts, but some of them are crumpled a bit, so you don’t take those ones, and when you’re walking home you cross the road too fast and a few loose ones flick up and get lost to the wind, and you get home and lay the money out to count it and the kids push some notes to the side because they smell funny so you throw those out too, and then you count how much you’ve got left and you’re pleased because you’ve got $400 and that seems fine because you always end up with $400.

Christmas is a time for plenty and celebrating all we
have. Without food loss, we’d have even more to celebrate! 

We’ve used ‘money’ as an analogy for food here—food, the stuff we pour 2/3rds of our water into producing, the stuff we clear land to make farms for, the stuff that keeps us alive.

Dr Pablo Juliano, one of our principle researchers heading up a project to map food loss, says food losses between the paddock and retailer worldwide might be as high as 60 per cent. This of course depends on the country and many other factors, but is a shameful waste regardless. Like the above analogy, food waste occurs at a number of ‘places’ along the supply chain: at the source (farm), at the stores, and, you’ll know all about this one, in the home.

Read the CSIRO story by Jesse Hawley - “The holes in Santa’s stocking: Mapping food loss from the farm and beyond.”

The Agriculture of hope: climate farmer of north America

A new and growing movement is inspiring farmers to produce food in a manner that can mitigate and even help reverse global warming. We call this “climate farming, the agriculture of hope.”

At the core of this movement is the understanding that soil health and climate stability are closely linked. The condition of one impacts the other. In the atmosphere, carbon exists as carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas warming the planet. But in plants, carbon forms a sugary liquid (like maple sap) that is exuded through the roots and gobbled up by microscopic critters at the foundation of what soil scientist Dr. Elaine Ingham calls the “Soil Food Web.” This infusion of carbon and the microbial activity it supports gives structure to soil, improves the nutrient density of food, and, perhaps most importantly, increases soil’s capacity to hold water.

Working to put more carbon into the soil, the climate farmer is thereby enhancing the productivity of soil while contributing to the long- term welfare of the planet. Regenerative farmer Jesse McDougall, of Studio Hill Farm in Shaftsbury, Vermont, shares, “Carbon is the world’s best fertilizer. Our goal in farming is to pass on to the next generation land that is outrageously fertile.”

Read the permaculture magazine story - “The Agriculture of hope: climate farmer of north America.”

Climate change could drive coastal food webs to collapse

Coastal marine food webs could be in danger of collapse as a result of rising carbon dioxide levels, according to our new research. The study shows that although species such as algae will receive a boost, the positive effects are likely to be cancelled out by the increased stress to species further up the food chain such as predatory fish.

A tank can give a good idea of what will happen out in the wild. 

Food webs are essentially networks of species that interact with each other. The connection between them can stabilise systems, for instance by preventing particular species from becoming too common, thereby encouraging the presence of a wide range of species.

These pathways can be quite stable, but they are vulnerable to ocean warming and acidification. Such food webs are therefore sensitive to changing climates, through potential changes both to plant growth (bottom-up effects) and to predator abundance and behaviour (top-down effects).

Because of the sheer complexity of species interactions within these food webs, we struggle to understand what future food webs might look like and how humans will be affected through changes in the services provided by the ocean, such as food, materials and energy.

Read the piece on The Conversation -“Climate change could drive coastal food webs to collapse.”

People who don't have children benefit our environment more than any campaign – it's time to celebrate them

Kim Cattrall famously said
that she didn't want to
be referred to as "childless"
 as she found the term offensive. 

The global population is growing rapidly, while the resources we depend on to live are dwindling. If you consider the footprint each person makes on the world – in terms of food and water consumed, electricity and gas used, and waste produced – the challenge of improving living standards while protecting natural resources and the environment is striking. The question of human population size is fundamentally one of sustainability, and in that so is the choice to have children.

Rather than being taboo, being childfree is something that should be celebrated and valued. The childfree do more for our environment than any campaign. In the UK our electricity use per capita is 5,407 kWh – it’s nigh on impossible to make up for the environmental footprint of having a child by remembering to switch off the lights. Finite resources mean we must consider our consumption now, what living standards are acceptable, and how to maintain the ecosystems on which we depend and how many of us there are.

Read the story on the Independent by Simon Ross - “People who don't have children benefit our environment more than any campaign – it's time to celebrate them.”

Taking the carbon challenge

T

his is where we'll show you how! Our Carbon Challenge has more than 50 activities to cut pollution. They cover Energy, Food, Travel, Shopping, Money and Sharing.

We ask you to make a personal goal: to cut a minimum of 1 tonne of CO2 pollution from your daily life within a year.

Read the 1 Million Women story - “Do you want to live a pollution-free and low-carbon lifestyle? Then take our carbon challenge”.

Climate Council report considers food security threat

T

he price, quality and seasonality of Australia’s food is increasingly being affected by climate change with Australia’s future food security under threat, our new report has revealed.

Australia’s food supply chain is highly exposed to disruption from increasing extreme weather events driven by climate change, with farmers already struggling to cope with more frequent and intense droughts and changing weather patterns.

And now Australia’s Climate Council has produced a report - “Feeding a Hungry Nation: Climate change, food and farming in Australia” – that looks at this issue.

The report’s preface says: “Australia is one of only a handful of countries that produces more food than it consumes and most Australians have access to an abundant and safe food supply. But Australia is also considered one of the most vulnerable developed countries in the world to impacts of the changing climate.

“Rising temperatures, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and declining water availability in some of our most important agricultural regions pose significant risks for the nature, distribution, quality, and affordability of our food supply. At the same time, the Australian and global population continues to grow, competition for arable land continues to intensify, and our natural resource base continues to degrade, placing ever-increasing demands on food production systems.”

Shepparton acts to tidy up its waste act

N

early everything we buy becomes waste within six weeks, according to Environment Victoria.

“Every wheelie bin of waste we produce from our home, equates to 70 wheelie bins of waste from the mining, manufacture, production and sale of the materials in that bin,” it says.

Our reckless waste of food is among that and amounts to 20 per cent of the food we buy. Edible food is simply thrown away.

Our efforts to combat and control climate change would be more effective if we simply stopped wasting so much of what we buy, including foodstuffs.

The City of Greater Shepparton is acutely conscious of the problems associated with waste, and the sorts of waste and now is introducing a food waste collection for all households in urban areas.

The city’s Waste Education officer, Jean Young, has said every household must have a green lid bin, meaning people will now be able to place food waste as well as garden waste into the bin. 

Ms Young said: “I am seeking motivated volunteers who would be interested in attending festivals, markets and other community events where they would inform residents of the new service, how it works and most importantly why we are doing it! Volunteers will get to wear an awesome Back to Earth shirt!! You can do one event (for a couple of hours) or multiple - any involvement would be fantastic!

“If individuals have any other engagement ideas or groups they are involved that may be interested in hearing about the rollout – please let me know,” she said.

The first event for which volunteers will be needed is at Shepparton's St Georges Road Festival that is taking place Sunday 27 November.   

More information on the new service you can be found on the council website or by phoning Ms Young at 5832 5207 or via emailing Jean Young.

More about rubbish and the complications it has for climate change and the distressing waste it is to life in a broader sense can be found at Environment Victoria and the Lunchalot website.

Creating food from plant proteins

F

rom the plant protein added to mayonnaise and cookies which replaces the need for eggs, to a proposed cheeseburger made entirely from plants, biotech start-ups are looking at ways to reinvent food and replace the need to use animal products.

 

Our addiction to food from animals is one of the real issues in terms of mitigating the causes of climate change, but now, it seems all our food could be plant based.

 

Watch this short BBC clip here.

Misleading stories, but the threshold is still just 22 years away

Just 22 years stands between what we have today and what we will have after crossing a climate threshold.

A story published by Scientific American headed: “Earth will cross the climate danger threshold by 2036” tells us that the rate of global warming may have hit a plateau, but a climate crisis still looms in the near future.

The Scientific American article points to seriously misleading articles in several stories published by various international media, but added: “Global warming continues unabated and it remains an urgent problem.”

It reports: “Most scientists concur that two degrees C of warming above the temperature during pre-industrial time would harm all sectors of civilization – food, water, health, land, national security, energy and economic prosperity.”

Sir John's university address proves the adage

by Robert McLean

The promise of something and its reality are frequently quite different.

The UK's Chief Scientific
 Advisor, Sir John Beddington.

That was wholly evident in listening to the UK’s chief scientific advisor, Sir John Beddington.

Sir John was the special guest at a free public lecture at the University of Melbourne on Thursday, October 9.

Speaking to an audience of more than 200 people, he discussed “The inescapable challenges of the early 21^st Century: sustainability and resilience and the interconnected challenges of energy, water, food and climate”.

The promise was that Sir John would clearly articulate the difficulties ahead and then illustrate what he saw as clearly workable solutions we could turn to as we address those daunting challenges.

He certainly spelt out those challenges, but many of the solutions he referred to where yet little more than an untested idea and where it had been tried was found to be inadequate.

As the UK’s chief scientific advisor, Sir John has access to the best information in the world, but his manner of understanding and articulating that appears to be contrary to what is an can be done.

Somewhat disenchanted by his approach to the dilemmas, I felt an urgent need to share my frustrations with someone and so I chose a Beneath the Wisteria supporter who is well aware of how the world’s climate is changing.

Here is what I wrote and email to our friend, all of which were sentiments with which he largely agreed.

Listening to Sir John Beddington at the Spot Basement Theatre last night, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had been misinformed, misunderstood all I had read and subsequently was misdirected in my thinking about the challenges humanity faces.

Everything he said coalesced with much of what I understand to be correct, but he appeared to have a misplaced optimism about how we will deal with our injured climate. My view is contrarily quite different and far less optimistic.

The direction humanity needs to take has, in my view, been decided by an implacable entity, the environment.

Many of the escape methods discussed by Sir John are either only in their formative stages or have been shown to be unworkable.

Of course, many things he discussed were clearly accurate and supported by verifiable facts, but beyond that he made, or so it seemed, no allowances for the unintended consequences of some of the proposed resolutions.

I dare not challenge Sir John as he is far more knowledgeable and has access to a far richer knowledge network than I do, but his optimism about our future left me feeling somewhat quizzical.

 

A connection to our discussions about food security

Considering that it was just last Saturday (February 25) that those who joined the conversation Beneath the Wisteria discussed food security and so this story (“Wanted: climate smartagriculture") in Nation of Change seems relevant.