Impact of a changing climate on food availability - Neil Hazra

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Description:

Food availability over the last few decades enabled people to eat food from around the world in the luxury of their homes. However, in the past few years, we have seen the direct effect of the food supply chain wreaking havoc on the carbon balance of the world especially in logistics. Meals in the US travel an average of 1500 miles to get from farm to plate. This has led to a consumer shift in demanding more locally sourced options. That means we are going to see fewer variety of food that is available to us on a regular basis.

Enablers:

As nations around the world start putting Carbon emission restrictions on industries and companies vying to become carbon-free, we will start seeing fewer and fewer options. We will also see this as consumers start pushing for locally sourced options and start buying from farmer's markets vs. supermarkets.

Inhibitors:

That said, the cheapest food in the market usually is mass-produced and comes from far away sources. A big part of the population will choose a canned option at 1/3rd the cost as that is the only option they can afford. Disparity of income will only further widen this divide.

Paradigms:

Old: People would go to supermarkets and buy groceries based on what looked good and fresh New: Consumers now want to know where the food is coming from, the farm, the practices used in growth


Experts:

  • Prof. Maggie Gill - Emeritus professor in the School of Biology
  • Chris Stark- Chief executive - Committee on Climate Change

Timing:

Web Resources:

The Local Organic Food Paradigm, Alex Avery and Dennis Averyhttps://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/journals/gjia/v9i1/0000683.pdf