Hello! Sorry for the week off, things kind of got away from me. I need to get better at writing “get ahead” posts so that won’t happen again.
This week, Thanksgiving has me thinking a lot about food, mostly about all the delicious things I’ve eaten, but also a little about food and climate. As I mentioned previously, our food system is a significant source of carbon emissions. The most effective way to lower your carbon footprint is to eat less animal protein (meat and dairy) and opt for more plant-based meals. (by the way, I’ve often seen some people claim that “local, organic food” is better for climate, but that probably isn’t true, I’ll discuss that in a future post).
However, today, I want to write about the way in which climate will impact our food supply. First things first, if you are a middle class person in a wealthy country, you probably won’t need to worry about famine or food security. It’s true that climate change will negatively impact the global food supply, and there likely will be an increase in famine, but it will mostly hit poor people living in the tropics. As with pretty much everything else, the greatest burden will fall on those who can least afford it. This is an unfortunate reality, one that we should all remember when we vote. Countries who have sufficient food should do what they can to prevent famine. Places like East Africa, which already deal with famine on a regular basis, will likely suffer the most.
This means that we need to build a more resilient food system for the whole human population. This means more global cooperation and less isolationism. It also means embracing traditional methods AND advanced technology like genetic engineering. Too often we see fearmongering over things like GMOs and “conventional agriculture” that play fast and loose with the facts. That’s why we need robust public infrastructure that can evaluate the safety of things like GMOs and allow for the responsible usage.
But, as individuals, there isn’t much we can do to solve a crisis on the other side of the world, apart from donating and voting for politicians who will do something about it (and protesting when they don’t). We can do a lot more about our personal food resiliency, particularly if you live in a suburb and have a yard.
As I said before, middle class people in wealthy countries probably won’t face starvation, but that doesn’t meant we won’t see shortages of certain things. I’m sure we all remember the early days of the pandemic, when people were hoarding toilet paper and flour and all sorts of other things. And we see the effects of the global supply chain backlog right now. Most Americans are used to eating food that’s grown either in a different part of the country (particularly if you live outside of California) or on another continent. We are used to eating fresh fruits and vegetables all year long. Wintertime peaches rely on a supply chain that connects South America or Mexico with your local grocery store. Climate change will make some areas less fertile, and other areas more fertile. It will impact the supply chains in a significant, way, and certain crops (like chocolate or coffee) may simply become less common (and more expensive).
This means that if we want fresh fruit and vegetables, or eggs, or even meat, we may need to produce some of this ourselves. I know most people aren’t going to start raising pigs, but if you have space, pretty much anyone can plant a garden. If we want to stay resilient in times of shortages and possible hoarding, then we can plant, preserve and store our own produce. This kind of resiliency can range from a simple garden meant to supplement our veggies and herbs, all the way to a modern “homestead” with livestock, grains, fruit, and other foodstuffs. There are something like 30 million acres of cultivated grass (lawns) in the US. That’s enough space to grow a lot of food.
Building food resiliency also means building systems to protect those without food. This means investing in robust public infrastructure. It also means, when things are bad, don’t hoard. Hoarding makes a bad problem worse and it’s usually a waste of time. We’re in this together and in times of crisis we should try to be selfless.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and nobody injured themselves in a mad Black Friday rush.
The Mangrove 