By Anna Lappé
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) came out this week with a new report on the intersections between food and climate. I published Diet for a Hot Planet nearly a decade ago to shout from the rooftops that if we are serious about the climate crisis we have to invest in a global food transformation, starting with bringing ecological principles into otherwise extractive agricultural practices and protecting our vital forests from agribusiness expansion. I am beyond thrilled to see this message getting out in such a big way. We’ve been promoting our food and climate organizing toolkit on this theme and our Real Food Reads convo about Diet for a Hot Planet to those inspired and activated by this news. (We were also pleased to see this fabulous oped on similar themes in The New York Times by a farmer who works closely with the fabulous California Climate and Agriculture Network.)
Land use is getting the best of us, according to the IPCC. Whether it’s agave production in Mexico (yup, that’s right tequila drinkers—we can’t have nice things), soy and corn production in Brazil, or charcoal production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: deforestation is happening rapidly all over the world for commodity production. Industrial agriculture is emitting carbon, and deforestation is reducing the ability of our forests to store carbon.
If you want to learn more about food and climate change, we’ve got you covered. Check out our Real Food Reads conversation on my book Diet for a Hot Planet. And get active with our organizing toolkit, Tackling Climate Change Through Food. The solutions are under our feet and all around us—in the soil and in our communities.
Photo by Sergio Souza / Unsplash
