Fasting in response to climate change

August 30, 2007 8:15 PM

As the global climate changes, agriculture is sure to be affected. The Stern Review explains that "developing countries - in particular the poorest - are heavily dependent on agriculture, the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors." Working Group II of the IPCC says that: "Smallholder and subsistence farmers, pastoralists and artisanal fisherfolk will suffer complex, localised impacts of climate change (high confidence)." Meanwhile, some important staple crops are especially threatened by rising temperatures (though genetic engineering may help). You can experience a taste of it yourself, with a climate change awareness fast, taking place on Tuesday, September 4th.
posted by sindark (12 comments total)

Sorry about the weird spacing there. If someone with editorial mastery can zap those paragraph tags, it would be appreciated.
posted by sindark at 8:17 PM on August 30, 2007

Now only if we could get hippies to do 'give up food for a day' everyday 365 days a year the world would be a much saner place.
posted by ItsaMario at 8:25 PM on August 30, 2007

Now only if we could get neocons hippies to do 'give up food for a day' everyday 365 days a year give up oxygen for 5 minutes the world would be a much saner place.
posted by Avenger at 8:30 PM on August 30, 2007

i've heard of artisanal bakers, but never artisanal fisherfolk before.

concerned about my favorite italian red wine areas, just a coupla more degrees and they'll be like san joaquin valley wines.
posted by bruce at 8:37 PM on August 30, 2007

I don't understand why staple crops would be diminished rather than merely moving north. The graphic at the bottom of the article does show northward movement, but it also shows the farming area shrinking. Why would that happen?
posted by scottreynen at 9:04 PM on August 30, 2007

You can read a near-final version of the upcoming World Development Report 'Agriculture for Development' (I haven't yet myself).
posted by Abiezer at 9:22 PM on August 30, 2007

rather than merely moving north

Soil. It's only good at certain places. For example the Canadian Shields are not good farming (and what TWF said).
posted by stbalbach at 9:28 PM on August 30, 2007

In other news: North-West Passage is now plain sailing
posted by homunculus at 9:38 PM on August 30, 2007

I'm going to miss the fish.
posted by salvia at 9:42 PM on August 30, 2007

We have other reasons to be concerned about fish. Of course, poor people have it much worse.
posted by sindark at 9:48 PM on August 30, 2007

concerned about my favorite italian red wine areas

Dont worry bruce, you'll be able to buy good italian red from a former Roman colony if this heating keeps up.
posted by ItsaMario at 5:27 AM on August 31, 2007

As covered in this NPR segment, the world's cheeses will be changing. Regional specialties in cheeses -- Alpine Swiss, English Cheddar, etc. -- exist in large part because of the diet of the cows and goats. As the regional flora change in response to climate change, the character of the cheeses changes.

Of course, while this may be heartbreaking to gourmands, it pales in significance to the broader ecological impact of climate change. Yet it is one relatively solid thing we can point to as proof of that very climate change, not just to convert naysayers, but to also give a real feel for how quickly that change can occur.
posted by yesster at 5:55 AM on August 31, 2007