Yet another massive UN report has been researched, written, and cast into the ceaselessly churning ocean of Internet information. There the report may well sink into oblivion, as so often happens with critical news.
But these well-researched collections of facts and expert insight scream to be recognized, remembered, and acted upon. “Wake up,” the world’s scientists are saying. Arise and take action now for food security.
The name of this latest report is enough to put people back to sleep, but the reality it describes demands acute wakefulness. Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems.
Climate change will continue to generate more and more intense floods, drought, storms, and other types of extreme weather. Going to the heart of the matter, The New York Times headlined its story on the report Climate Change Threatens World’s Food Supply.
Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior research scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is a lead author of the report. She said that without swift action on a sweeping scale, climate change will accelerate the danger of severe food shortages. The window of opportunity to address this threat is closing rapidly.
The report set out pathways of agroecology for responding to the looming food crisis, and that’s what I want to emphasize, and what I want to encourage readers to emphasize.
Among the range of intelligent and possible responses to impending conditions is to take direct action to increase your household and community food security. There are hundreds of ways to do that, including directly supporting your local farms, farmers markets, food coops, food hubs, community gardens, and so forth. These agroecological approaches are emerging as essential elements of our personal, local, national, and planetary well being.
For resources to enable your wise and wakeful action, of course check the deep and rich archive of information on Mother Earth News. You can also check the Pathways page on my Deep Agroecology blog, and the pages for Real Food Media – videos, books, films, and storytelling for transforming the food system.
Images courtesy of Pixabay.com
