Comments on: Fasting in response to climate change

Fasting in response to climate change

sindark — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:15:44 -0800

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.

By: sindark

sindark — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:17:28 -0800

Sorry about the weird spacing there. If someone with editorial mastery can zap those paragraph tags, it would be appreciated.

By: ItsaMario

ItsaMario — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:25:43 -0800

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.

By: Avenger

Avenger — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:30:18 -0800

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.

By: bruce

bruce — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:37:01 -0800

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.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:39:16 -0800

Avenger: better make it 10 minutes. Neocons' brains don't require that much oxygen to keep going.

By: scottreynen

scottreynen — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:04:04 -0800

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?

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:22:23 -0800

You can read a near-final version of the upcoming World Development Report 'Agriculture for Development' (I haven't yet myself).

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:26:50 -0800

The graphic at the bottom of the article does show northward movement, but it also shows the farming area shrinking. Why would that happen? Because you can't grow wheat in Hudson Bay.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:28:39 -0800

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).

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:38:34 -0800

In other news: North-West Passage is now plain sailing

By: salvia

salvia — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:42:49 -0800

I'm going to miss the fish.

By: sindark

sindark — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:48:28 -0800

We have other reasons to be concerned about fish. Of course, poor people have it much worse.

By: ItsaMario

ItsaMario — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:27:12 -0800

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.

By: yesster

yesster — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:55:09 -0800

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.