Food

Plant-Based Diets

A plant-based diet offers numerous environmental benefits that contribute to mitigating the climate and nature crisis. One of the key advantages is the significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Animal agriculture is a major source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as well as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. By reducing the consumption of animal products, individuals can lower their carbon footprint and help combat global warming.

Additionally, plant-based diets require fewer natural resources, such as water and land. Livestock farming requires vast amounts of water for animal hydration, feed crops, and processing, while plant-based foods generally require less water and land. This shift can reduce deforestation and habitat destruction, which are major drivers of biodiversity loss. By supporting plant-based agriculture, we also promote more sustainable farming practices that can enhance soil health and reduce pollution from agricultural runoff.

Read more:

Horsham District Council This article highlights that shifting towards plant-based diets is vital for the health of our planet, as plant-based foods are associated with the greatest reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions.

NHS Change The NHS Change website discusses the benefits of plant-based diets in reducing the burden of chronic diseases and promoting sustainability goals, particularly in reducing carbon emissions.

Herefordshire Council This resource notes that switching to a plant-based diet can help fight climate change, as high consumption of meat and dairy is fueling global warming.

Crown Street Surgery The article suggests considering a plant-based diet to lower your carbon footprint, as reducing meat and dairy consumption can lead to improved overall well-being.

RBWM Together This presentation emphasizes that adopting a plant-based diet is one of the most efficient ways to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gases and preserving water and land.

Growing Your Own Food

Growing your own food offers significant environmental benefits, helping to address the climate and nature crisis. One major advantage is the reduction in carbon emissions associated with food transportation. When you grow food locally, especially in your own garden, you avoid the energy-intensive processes of harvesting, packaging, and transporting food over long distances, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of your meals.

Additionally, growing your own food encourages more sustainable agricultural practices. Home gardening can reduce the need for harmful pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and monoculture farming, which often lead to soil degradation, water pollution, and biodiversity loss. By practicing organic gardening or using natural methods, you contribute to healthier soil and ecosystems. This can also enhance local biodiversity by providing habitats for pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Moreover, growing your own food helps conserve water, as you can tailor irrigation methods to the specific needs of your garden, reducing water waste. It also promotes food sovereignty, allowing individuals and communities to reduce their reliance on industrial farming and unsustainable agricultural systems.

Read more:

BBC Future This article discusses how turning your garden into a carbon sink can help combat climate change. It highlights that producing compost at home can save substantial amounts of carbon emissions, contributing to climate change mitigation.

Soil Association The Soil Association emphasizes that adopting nature-friendly farming practices, such as organic gardening, can help keep global warming below 2°C. Growing your own food using organic methods reduces reliance on fossil fuels and supports biodiversity.

Dorset Council This resource suggests that growing your own fruit and vegetables and supporting local producers can save fuel emissions and reduce pesticide usage in industrial farming. It also helps support local businesses and encourages spending more time outdoors.

Met Office The Met Office discusses how food security is under pressure from the direct impacts of climate change. It highlights the importance of food supply chains being better prepared and more resilient to global shocks and extreme weather.

Wikipedia The Wikipedia page on climate-friendly gardening explains how growing your own food can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It discusses the environmental benefits of home gardening, including carbon sequestration and reduced transportation emissions.

Food Shortages and Rising Prices

Food shortages and rising prices are increasingly linked to the climate and nature crisis. Extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and heatwaves, are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change, severely impacting agricultural productivity. Crops are destroyed or fail to thrive in these harsh conditions, leading to lower yields and supply disruptions. As a result, food prices rise, putting pressure on vulnerable populations and increasing global food insecurity.

Additionally, climate change affects the availability of water resources necessary for irrigation, further exacerbating food production challenges. In some regions, desertification and land degradation, driven by both climate change and unsustainable agricultural practices, are rendering land less productive. This, combined with the increased demand for food due to growing populations, creates a situation where food supply cannot keep up with demand, leading to scarcity and higher prices.

Biodiversity loss also contributes to food insecurity, as the decline of pollinators like bees reduces crop yields. Furthermore, over-exploitation of natural resources, such as soil and water, diminishes the resilience of food systems to climate stress.

Read more:

Carbon Brief This article discusses how extreme heat influences food inflation globally. A 2024 study found that high temperatures “persistently” increase food inflation in both high- and low-income countries.

World Economic Forum This resource identifies specific crops most affected by climate change, including cocoa, olive oil, rice, and soybeans. Extreme weather events have led to reduced yields of these crops, contributing to higher prices and food shortages.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The EPA outlines how climate change can disrupt food availability, reduce access to food, and affect food quality. Projected increases in temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns may result in reduced agricultural productivity.

Action Against Hunger This organization reports that a majority of Americans believe climate change is contributing to rising food prices and global food shortages, with 72% recognizing the connection.

Alliance for Science This article discusses how rising global temperatures could cause food prices to increase by 3.2% per year, according to a study by German researchers.

Challenges for UK Farmers

UK farmers face significant challenges due to the climate and nature crisis, which affect both agricultural productivity and sustainability. Increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, including intense storms, heatwaves, and flooding, disrupt planting and harvesting cycles. Droughts, in particular, threaten water availability for irrigation and crop growth, while heavy rainfall can lead to soil erosion and flooding, damaging crops and farmland.

Additionally, climate change is altering growing conditions for many crops, making traditional farming practices less reliable. For instance, warmer temperatures may affect the growing seasons for crops like wheat and barley, while pests and diseases thrive in the changing climate, threatening yields and requiring more pest control measures. This shift demands significant adaptation from farmers, who need to embrace new technologies and farming techniques.

Farmers are also grappling with biodiversity loss, as habitat destruction and changing weather conditions impact pollinators and other essential wildlife. The decline in biodiversity threatens crop pollination, soil health, and pest control, further exacerbating challenges to food production.

Read more:

Yale Climate Connections This article discusses how UK farmers are grappling with intense weather extremes and shifting seasons, leading to escalating threats to food security.

PreventionWeb This resource highlights the dual struggles of UK farmers, focusing on the mental health challenges exacerbated by climate change impacts.

Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) This piece examines the surprising impacts of climate change on UK crops, noting that some key produce is becoming harder to grow in certain regions due to changing climate conditions.

Global Witness This article features a UK farmer’s perspective on the increasing difficulties posed by severe floods amid the climate crisis, emphasizing the unpredictability and severity of weather events.

UK Climate Resilience This study reveals that while extreme weather is harming UK agriculture, many farmers have not yet prioritized adapting to the effects of the climate emergency.

Soil Health

Soil health is a critical issue in the context of the climate and nature crisis. Healthy soils are essential for food production, water filtration, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity. However, soil degradation is increasingly exacerbated by unsustainable agricultural practices, deforestation, and climate change. Over-farming, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and monoculture farming deplete soil nutrients, reduce its ability to retain water, and lead to erosion. These practices compromise soil fertility, which in turn threatens food security.

Climate change accelerates these problems by increasing the frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts and heavy rainfall. These events can further degrade soils, increase erosion, and reduce their ability to support crops. Rising temperatures also accelerate the breakdown of organic matter in soil, releasing carbon into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. As a result, soils become less effective in absorbing and storing carbon, amplifying the climate crisis.

Read more:

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) UKCEH conducts multidisciplinary research on soil processes and their interactions with the biosphere, aiding in environmental risk assessment and predicting soil changes under future land use and climate scenarios.

Defra Farming Blog This blog emphasizes that healthy soils support environmental, economic, and societal benefits, including food production, climate change mitigation, and increased biodiversity.

Soil Association The Soil Association’s report highlights that healthy soils act as sponges, improving water infiltration and storage, and are critical to wildlife, with around 25% of biodiversity living in our soils.

Farm Advisory Service This resource discusses soil biodiversity, noting that a healthy soil contains a large number and variety of organisms, which interact to provide a wide variety of ecosystem services, including climate change mitigation.

University of Plymouth The university’s research focuses on soil health, addressing challenges such as carbon loss, nutrient imbalances, erosion, compaction, and contamination, and exploring how reconstructed soils and regenerative agriculture can improve soil health.

Pollination

Pollination is a crucial process for food production and biodiversity, yet it is increasingly threatened by the climate and nature crisis. Many crops rely on pollinators, such as bees, butterflies, and other insects, to reproduce. However, climate change is altering the habitats and behaviour of these pollinators. Rising temperatures and extreme weather events disrupt flowering patterns and migration routes, making it harder for pollinators to find the plants they depend on. This not only reduces crop yields but also threatens the survival of many plant species that rely on insects for reproduction.

Habitat loss is another significant factor contributing to pollinator decline. Urbanization, deforestation, and agricultural expansion destroy the natural environments where pollinators live, further reducing their populations. The widespread use of pesticides also harms pollinators by poisoning them or disrupting their ability to navigate and forage for food. The decline in pollinators poses a direct threat to food security, as many crops, including fruits, vegetables, and nuts, depend on pollination.

Read more:

UK Biodiversity Indicators – Pollinating Insects The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) reports a 24% decrease in the distribution of pollinators since 1980, highlighting the deteriorating trend in pollinator populations.

Widespread Losses Among Pollinating Insects in Britain Research indicates that many insect pollinator species are disappearing from areas of Great Britain, underscoring the urgent need to address this decline.

Climate Crisis Will Leave Pollinators Searching Further for Food A study from Newcastle University provides direct evidence that climate change is impacting wildflowers and pollinators, affecting their availability and distribution.

Bees Waking Up Earlier Due to Climate Change BBC News reports that wild bees are emerging earlier in the year due to climate change, potentially disrupting the pollination of crops like apples and pears.

Where is the UK’s Pollinator Biodiversity? A study published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment discusses the decline of pollinators in the UK, attributing factors such as habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change.

Foods at Risk of Extinction

Several essential foods are at risk of extinction or significant reduction in availability due to the climate and nature crisis. These include:

Coffee: Coffee plants, particularly Arabica, are highly sensitive to temperature fluctuations, droughts, and diseases like coffee leaf rust. Climate change is altering rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures in key coffee-producing regions, threatening production.

Chocolate (Cocoa): Cocoa trees thrive in stable, humid environments. However, rising temperatures, droughts, and the spread of diseases like the cocoa swollen shoot virus are damaging cocoa production in West Africa, the world’s largest growing region.

Rice: Rice production is vulnerable to flooding, drought, and temperature changes. Extreme weather events and shifting monsoon patterns affect yields, particularly in countries like India and Bangladesh, where rice is a staple.

Honey: Bees are essential for pollination, but climate change and habitat loss threaten their populations. A decline in bee numbers affects honey production and the pollination of many crops.

Wheat: Higher temperatures and unpredictable rainfall are reducing wheat yields. This is particularly concerning for regions that depend on wheat as a staple, such as parts of Europe, the US, and Asia.

These foods are at risk due to climate-related changes in weather patterns, water availability, and ecosystem disruptions, underscoring the need for climate action to protect global food security.

Read more:

BBC – “Are your favourite foods at risk of extinction?” This article highlights that two in five of the world’s plants are at risk of extinction, with important consequences for our food.

FitDay – “5 Endangered Foods That May Be Going Extinct” This piece discusses how climate change and environmental factors are threatening the existence of certain foods, including blueberries, almonds, and wine.

Action Against Hunger – “8 Crops Endangered by Climate Change” This resource examines how climate change is affecting staple crops like potatoes and maize, as well as cash crops such as cocoa and coffee, leading to widespread impacts on global agricultural production.

Cookist – “The Looming Threat: 5 Foods That Risk Extinction” This article explores how climate change, habitat destruction, and human activity are endangering iconic ingredients like wheat, bananas, honey, and cocoa, posing challenges to food security and biodiversity.

Kew Gardens – “5 ways Kew is protecting food from extinction” This resource discusses how Kew scientists are working to protect various foods from extinction, including the ‘false banana’, coffee, fruits and nuts, yams, and Colombian fungi.