The Elephant
A resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens interested in climate change and the environmental emergency
The ElephantA resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens interested in climate change and the environmental emergency
Further wet weather raises fears of harvest catastrophe - Farmers Weekly
2024-03-12 in Farmers WeeklyFurther heavy rainfall over the last fortnight is increasing farmers’ concerns of an impending harvest catastrophe. Following relentless rain since
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption | Collapse | UK | Agriculture
Increasing risks of multiple breadbasket failure under 1.5 and 2 °C global warming
2023-04-26 (or before) in ScienceDirect.comThe increasingly inter-connected global food system is becoming more vulnerable to production shocks owing to increasing global mean temperatures and …
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption | Climate Change Impacts | Climate Change
UK can sustain itself if it converted all animal farmland to forest, Harvard research shows
2024-03-13 (or before) in The Vegan SocietyResearchers found the UK can convert animal farmland to forest and still grow enough protein as well as help combat climate change.
Tagged under: Net Zero | Food Production and Consumption | Agriculture | Rewilding | Trees
Potentials and perspectives of food self-sufficiency in urban areas—a case study from Leipzig | Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems | Cambridge Core
2024-03-13 (or before) in Cambridge University Press & AssessmentPotentials and perspectives of food self-sufficiency in urban areas—a case study from Leipzig - Volume 37 Issue 3
Tagged under: Climate Change Adaption | Germany | Agriculture | Food Production and Consumption
Further wet weather raises fears of harvest catastrophe - Farmers Weekly
2024-03-12 in Farmers WeeklyFurther heavy rainfall over the last fortnight is increasing farmers’ concerns of an impending harvest catastrophe. Following relentless rain since
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption | Collapse | UK | Agriculture
Shuttered restaurants, burgers uneaten: why vegan products are being left on the shelf | Jennifer Yule
2024-03-08 in The GuardianHave the new vegans had enough of being called ‘soy boys’? I suspect the reason is far simpler, says marketing lecturer Jennifer Yule
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption
Burger King Germany Makes Plant-Based Meals Cheaper Than Meat - vegconomist - the vegan business magazine
2024-03-05 in Vegconomist - the vegan business magazineBurger King Germany has reduced the price of all plant-based meals by 10 cents, making them cheaper than the chain's meat-based options.
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption
British farmers say 'shocking' levels of floods are pushing them to the brink | ITV News
2024-03-01 in ITVHeavy periods of rain this autumn and winter have decimated farms around the UK, with some saying their land has been constantly submerged since October. | ITV National News
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption | UK | Flooding | Agriculture
Global food production at risk as rising temperatures threaten farmers' physical ability to work, new study finds
2024-01-19 in Phys.org - News and Articles on Science and TechnologyThe future of global food production is under threat as temperature rises will impact farmers' physical capacity to work, a new study has revealed.
Tagged under: Farming | Food Production and Consumption
Insights into countries’ exposure and vulnerability to food trade shocks from network-based simulations - Scientific Reports
2023-12-08 (or before) in NatureIn the context of a global food system, the dynamics associated to international food trade have become key determinants of food security. In this paper, we resort to a diffusion model to simulate how shocks to domestic food production propagate through the international food trade network and study the relationship between trade openness and vulnerability. The results of our simulations suggest that low-income and food insecure countries tend to be the more exposed to external shocks and, at the same time, they are usually not in a position to take full advantage of international food trade when it comes to shield themselves fr...
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption
Climate, Fossil Fuels and UK Food Prices: 2023
2023-11-27 (or before) in Energy & Climate Intelligence UnitClimate change and energy add the cost of 10 weekly shops to food bills as floods and drought hit food production.
Tagged under: Fossil Fuels | Net Zero | Drought | Food Production and Consumption
Global marine analysis suggests food chain collapse
2023-10-12 (or before) in The University of AdelaideA world-first global analysis of marine responses to climbing human CO2 emissions has painted a grim picture of future fisheries and ocean ecosystems.
Tagged under: Famine | Food Production and Consumption | Collapse | Fish | Fishing
UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021
2023-10-10 (or before) in World Health OrganisationThe number of people affected by hunger globally rose to as many as 828 million in 2021, an increase of about 46 million since 2020 and 150 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (1), according to a United Nations report that provides fresh evidence that the world is moving further away from its goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. The 2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report presents updates on the food security and nutrition situation around the world, including the latest estimates of the cost and affordability of a healt...
Tagged under: Farming | Famine | Meat Production | Economic Growth | Health | Women and Children | Food Production and Consumption
A comprehensive continental-scale analysis of carbon footprint of food production: Comparing continents around the world
2023-09-30 (or before) in ScienceDirect.comFood production is an important source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Quantifying the carbon footprint of all the major food categor…
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption
The summer food went weird: searing heat reshapes US food production
2023-09-02 in The GuardianFrom wilting wheat to stressed pollinators, US farmers and fishermen see unexpected climate effects
Tagged under: Drought | Farming | Climate Change | Fish | Food Production and Consumption
Pollinators: decline in numbers / RHS Gardening
2023-07-14 (or before) in RHS - Inspiring everyone to grow / RHS GardeningThere is evidence that populations of bees and other pollinators are less healthy and abundant than they have been. If action is not taken, pollinator declines will have serious implications for biodiversity, food production and the ornamental garden.
Tagged under: Wildlife | Bees | Health | Food Production and Consumption
Insect decline a threat to fruit crops and food security, scientists warn MPs
2023-06-07 in The GuardianPoor pollination caused by destructive farming methods leads to loss of biodiversity and is a threat to food production, inquiry told
Tagged under: Farming | Wildlife | Insects | Food Production and Consumption
Interactive: What is the climate impact of eating meat and dairy?
2023-06-05 (or before) by in Carbon BriefFood production accounts for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. It takes up half of the planet’s habitable surface.
Tagged under: Meat Production | Food Production and Consumption
Pigs, rabbits and fish are dying from searing temperatures in China | CNN Business
2023-06-02 by in CNNWith parts of China experiencing record high temperatures and heavy rains, reports of farm animals and crops suffering from extreme weather patterns are dominating headlines in the country, raising concerns about food security in the world’s second largest economy.
Tagged under: Drought | Farming | Fish | Flooding | Rivers | Health | Food Production and Consumption | El Niño | Trees | Finance
Increasing risks of multiple breadbasket failure under 1.5 and 2 °C global warming
2023-04-26 (or before) in ScienceDirect.comThe increasingly inter-connected global food system is becoming more vulnerable to production shocks owing to increasing global mean temperatures and …
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption | Climate Change Impacts | Climate Change
Environmental Impacts of Food Production
2023-04-16 (or before) in Our World in DataWhat are the environmental impacts of food production? How do we reduce the impacts of agriculture on the environment?
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption
Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods - Nature Food
2023-03-07 (or before) in NatureThe quantification of greenhouse gas emissions related to food production and consumption is still largely hindered by the availability of spatial data consistent across sectors. This study provides a detailed account of emissions from land-use change, farmland, livestock and activities beyond the farm gate associated with plant- and animal-based foods/diets—culminating in local-, country- and global-level emissions from each major agricultural commodity.
Tagged under: Farming | Greenhouse Gases | Food Production and Consumption
Meat, dairy and rice production will bust 1.5C climate target, shows study
2023-03-06 in The GuardianEmissions from food system alone will drive the world past target, unless high-methane foods are tackled
Tagged under: Farming | Greenhouse Gases | Methane | Meat Production | Cattle and Dairy Farming | Food Production and Consumption
Beyond fed up: six hard trends that lead to food system breakdown
2023-03-01 by in Insight, the University of Cumbria's institutional repositoryThis paper is a preprint of a chapter in the forthcoming book Breaking Together (Bendell, 2023). It analyses six hard trends that are already happening, and lead to food system breakdown. First, the biophysical limits of food production are being reached. Second, current food production systems are actively destroying the very resource base upon which they rely. Third, the majority of food production and all its storage and distribution is critically dependent upon fossil fuels, not only making the food supply vulnerable to price and supply instability, but also presenting an impossible choice between food security and reducing ...
Tagged under: Climate Change Impacts | Food Production and Consumption | Agriculture | Collapse
Honey bee life spans are 50 percent shorter today than they were 50 years ago: A drop in longevity for lab-kept honey bees could help explain colony losses and lower honey production in recent decades
2022-12-23 (or before) in Science DailyA new study by entomologists shows that the lifespan for individual honey bees kept in a controlled, laboratory environment is 50% shorter than it was in the 1970s. As the first study to show an overall decline in honey bee lifespan potentially independent of environmental stressors, this work hints that genetics may be influencing the broader trends of higher colony turnover rates seen in the beekeeping industry.
Tagged under: Butterflies and Moths | Bees | Insects | Food Production and Consumption
Fueling Resistance
2022-12-14 (or before) in MITIn Fueling Resistance, Kate Neville dissects the processes, and political economy framework, of resistance to two different alternative fuel projects in two distinct and disparate locations. The comparison centers on resistance to a biofuel project in Kenya and a fracking project in the Yukon territory of Canada. The unwritten premise is that these two energy projects, and the subsequent resistance to them, may not have obvious similarities given their distinct characteristics and locations but in fact have several elements in common. Neville outlines how these cases can be viewed as similar and concludes that understanding the ...
Tagged under: Renewable Energy | Solar Energy | Climate Change | Colonialism | Rivers | Fracking | Fossil Fuels | Wind Power | Health | Climate Justice | Food Production and Consumption | Finance
Heatwave in China is the most severe ever recorded in the world | New Scientist
2022-08-26 (or before) in New ScientistA long spell of extreme hot and dry weather is affecting energy, water supplies and food production across China
Tagged under: Extreme Weather | Heatwaves | Food Production and Consumption
UK farmers count cost as heatwave kills fruit and vegetable crops
2022-08-01 in The GuardianFears of future threats to food security if more extreme heat caused by climate crisis hits production
Tagged under: Farming | Extreme Weather | Heatwaves | Food Production and Consumption
Meat, monopolies, mega farms: how the US food system fuels climate crisis
2022-06-30 in The GuardianFrom a beef-heavy diet to growing crops that don’t feed people – the biggest challenges facing the agriculture industry
Tagged under: Farming | Greenhouse Gases | Meat Production | Cattle and Dairy Farming | Food Production and Consumption
The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production on land - Nature Sustainability
2022-05-15 (or before) in NatureShifting global food production to plant-based diets by 2050 can sequester 99–163% of the CO2 emissions budget towards limiting climate warming to 1.5 °C.
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption | Sustainability
Local food crop production can fulfil demand for less than one-third of the population - Nature Food
2022-05-09 (or before) in NatureA ‘foodshed’ model indicates the minimum distance between crop production and consumption globally. Results show that most of the world’s population depends on trade to feed themselves, even under different levels of yield gap closure and food loss reduction.
Tagged under: Food Production and Consumption
The UN's big climate report buried some bad news about our eating habits
2021-08-14 (or before) in Mother Jones - Smart, fearless journalismMethane may hold the key to deciding whether the earth continues to morph into a disaster-movie set over the next generation.
Tagged under: Meat Production | Methane | IPCC | Food Production and Consumption
UN sets out Paris-type plan to cut extinctions by factor of 10
2021-07-12 in The GuardianAmbitious draft goals to halt biodiversity loss revealed, with proposed changes to food production expected to ‘raise eyebrows’
Tagged under: Oceans | Climate Change | Wildlife | Food Production and Consumption
Third of global food production at risk from climate crisis
2021-05-14 in The GuardianFood-growing areas will see drastic changes to rainfall and temperatures if global heating continues at current rate
Tagged under: Farming | Extreme Rainfall | Drought | COP26 | Greenhouse Gases | Climate Change | Africa | Food Production and Consumption
World's top emitters a long way from aligning with climate goals | Reuters
2021-03-23 (or before) in ReutersThe world's biggest carbon-emitting companies are far from aligning with the Paris Climate Agreement, a report by the leading climate-focused investor group showed on Monday.
Tagged under: Climate Change | Africa | ESG - Environmental, Social and Governance | Japan | Food Production and Consumption | Finance
Calculation of external climate costs for food highlights inadequate pricing of animal products - Nature Communications
2020-12-23 (or before) in NatureAgricultural greenhouse gas emissions not only amplify the global climate crisis, but cause damage currently unaccounted for by food prices. Here the authors show the calculation of prices with internalized climate costs for food categories and production systems, revealing strong market distortions.
Tagged under: Greenhouse Gases | Food Production and Consumption
Organic meat production just as bad for climate, study finds
2020-12-23 in The GuardianAnalysis also found the lowest impact meat was still far more damaging than the worst plant foods
Tagged under: Farming | Greenhouse Gases | Meat Production | Food Production and Consumption
Global food production emissions 'would put Paris agreement out of reach'
2020-11-05 in The GuardianStudy calls for more focus on farming and food waste, behind a third of greenhouse gas production
Tagged under: Farming | Greenhouse Gases | Meat Production | Food Production and Consumption
Majority of European crops feeding animals and cars, not people - Greenpeace European Unit
2020-10-23 (or before) in GreenpeaceBrussels, 16 October 2020 – The vast majority of European crop production is used to feed animals and create biofuels, rather than feeding people, new analysis has found. At the…
Tagged under: Cars | Greenpeace | Food Production and Consumption
Emissions from 13 dairy firms match those of entire UK, says report
2020-06-15 in The GuardianExclusive: Milk giants’ climate impact rising and production caps needed, say researchers
Tagged under: Farming | Cattle and Dairy Farming | Food Production and Consumption
Is factory farming to blame for coronavirus?
2020-03-28 in The GuardianScientists are tracing the path of Sars-CoV-2 from a wild animal host – but we also need to look at the part played in the outbreak by industrial food production
Tagged under: Farming | Food Production and Consumption
Time for politicians to make 'stark choices' over climate change
2019-01-01 in The GuardianMPs must show leadership on issues such as meat production and air travel, says Clive Lewis
Tagged under: Climate Change | Meat Production | Air Travel | Food Production and Consumption
Are solar farms really hitting British food production?
2014-10-21 in The GuardianEnvironment secretary Liz Truss has cut solar farm’s subsidies saying they harm food production, but most UK solar farms successfully produce food as well. Karl Mathiesen investigates
Tagged under: Renewable Energy | Farming | Solar Energy | Food Production and Consumption
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