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Christopher McKinnis
Professor Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
11 November 2015
How Climate Change Will Soon Take Over Your Kitchen
We all love food, theres no denial in that. Whether its pasta or pizza, hamburgers or
hotdogs, cake or cookies, we all like to eat. Granted its a necessity to our survival as a species,
but why not enjoy it while we can, right? Well, what would happen if you couldnt eat your
favorite foods anymore? Although many anti-environmentalists deny its existence, global
warming is real and is affecting every aspect of how we live everyday. Whether its the increase
in global temperatures in the land and sea or the melting of the polar ice caps in the Arctic, the
signs point us in the wrong direction, and it keeps getting worse. According to scientists from
the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, climate change has begun
affecting crop and terrestrial food production on a global scale, with projections claiming that,
for example, wheat yield could decrease by two percent per decade from this point further. In
addition, with the continuous alterations in global precipitation patterns and sea and land
temperatures, food prices could possibly spike up by 3% to 84% by the year 2050. Such a gap
goes to show how much speculation about what may occur over the next few decades, due to the
fact the effects of climate change is all dependent on our actions as a global population. With the
potential of possible global famine and increased international tensions between global forces,
this is an issue that has to be tackled as soon as possible, and through the thorough analysis of all
aspects of the effects of climate change on food production and security on a global scale,

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scientists and politicians can pinpoint a path that can be taken in order to keep us as a society and
species together.
Climate Change: Where Its Going Now
Before I begin with the topic on climate changes effects on food production and security,
it is important to discuss what has caused this issue to escalate as much as it has over the past
few decades. Since 1861, the concentrations of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), and
nitrous oxide (N2O) in the troposphere has risen sharply, especially since 1950. Current CO2
levels in the troposphere appear to be higher than they have been in at least 160,000 years,
having surpassed the health level of 350 ppm (parts per million) in 1988, and, to this date, is
about to break 400 ppm. In a recent article published by The Guardian, experts from the United
Nations weather agency have expressed an urgent concern dealing with the rising CO2
concentrations in the atmosphere, predicting a historic milestone of 400 ppm, or parts per
million, to be surpassed sometime in the year 2016. With an increase of 43% in the CO2 levels
from 1750 to 2014, immediate action is necessary in order to cut down CO2 emissions, according
secretary general of the World Meteorological Society Michel Jarraud. We cant see CO2. It is
an invisible threat, but a very real one. It means hotter global temperatures, more extreme
weather events like heatwaves and floods, melting ice, rising sea levels and increased acidity of
the oceans. This is happening now and we are moving into uncharted territory at a frightening
speed, states Jarraud. Unfortunately, its not just CO2 thats affecting climate change. With
increased temperatures comes increased amounts of water vapor in the air due to evaporation and
transpiration. Water vapor, although most dont realize, is also a greenhouse gas, and also traps
heat within the Earth, further heating the surface and continuing the cycle (Vaughan).

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Effects on Food Production
Climate change impacts every aspect of how we live and go about our days everyday, and
most people dont realize that. Many believe that the ice that is melting in the Arctic or the rise
in the global temperatures have been happening since the beginning of time, and dont see the
rationale of starting to do something about it now when it has been occurring forever. However,
global land and sea temperatures have risen quite dramatically over the past few decades and are
already having immediate impacts on how countries and companies go about producing food and
food-based products. In an interview by the Washington Posts Roberto A. Ferdman, Nestl
S.A.s vice president and global head of operations Jos Lopez provides some interesting insight
on how climate change in its more recent and future years has and will affect the worlds largest
food company. When asked about how climate change is affecting Nestl behind the scenes, the
issue with increased prices for raw materials comes up (Ferdman). The most important aspect to
food production is access to raw materials; without a consistent influx of raw materials, food
companies such as Nestl arent able to manufacture many of the products that are known to us
on a frequent enough basis to keep up with demand. In fact, climate change has a direct effect on
such raw materials and will continue to get worse as climatic changes continue to occur. Crop
yields and harvest quality are extremely sensible to changes in their environment, especially
weather phenomena and extremes and changing precipitation and temperature rates on a global
scale. With such biophysical changes to global crop production, changes in food production and
food prices will also be triggered in order to compensate for the loss in crop production
(Hallegate). The impact of these changes ultimately rely on how farmers and countries adapt to
the changing climatic events, and with modern technology constantly evolving in order to meet

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our needs and issues, this may somewhat of a feasible task. However, there is still much work
that needs to be done in order for this to begin getting resolved.
Food Security and the Resulting Direct and Indirect Impacts from Climate Change
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, food security is defined as a
situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to
sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an
active and healthy life. There are four aspects of food security that are necessary to discuss in
order to truly analyze the complete impact of climate change: availability, stability, access, and
utilization. As was already mentioned, climate change affects agriculture and therefore food
production in complex ways that are not easy to resolve. It directly impacts food production by
altering the agro-economical conditions necessary to produce food products and indirectly affects
the growth and distribution of incomes, ultimately leading to a demand for agricultural produce.
In addition, as already mentioned, the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and
decline in crop yields and land sustainability and suitability limits the food production business;
as a result, adaptation utilizing available management procedures and crops as well as the
incorporation of modern technology to help improve crop and food production efficiency are key
in order to protect the availability of such important raw materials.
Another important factor that will influence the global food security is the stability in of
the global climatic events and whether or not we can slow the negative effects of such events to
the point to where we can function more efficiently. Global and weather conditions are expected
to continue to change and become more variable than what they are today. For example,
increased temperatures and, consequently, increased supplies of atmospheric water vapor will
encourage the development of more destructive and frequent of extreme events, including

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cyclones, hurricanes, floods and droughts. Through greater fluctuations in crop yields and local
food supplies and higher risks of landslides and floods, which leads to erosion damage, they can
unfavorably affect the stability of food supplies and ultimately food security.
Disease is a huge concern in regards to climate change and food security especially when
it comes to food utilization on a global scale, which may not seem to be the case at first.
However, climate change can also affect the ability of individuals to effectively utilize food by
altering the conditions for food safety and changing the disease pressure from vector, water, and
food-borne diseases. The primary concern in regards to food security is the possibility of a
vicious circle where diseases can enhance global hunger, further putting populations that may
suffer in more of a risk of attracting an infectious disease. This wouldnt just affect food
production and safety; this could potentially result in a decline in labor productivity and an
increase in poverty and mortality. In addition, with increased precipitation, this will promote the
development of water-borne diseases that can be easily spread through insects such as mosquitos.
Extreme rainfall events, along with this, will increase the amount of flooding in areas that are
environmentally degraded and where basic public infrastructure, including hygiene and
sanitation, are absent.
World hunger has always been a lingering global issue for such a long period of time, and
although as a world population we have improved quite dramatically in the access of food to
communities and families that are lacking with such necessities, with climate change affecting so
many aspects of food production, access to food, and healthy food at that, will become much
more difficult to distribute to areas within in developing countries and struggling communities all
over the world. Much of this will be of a result of an increase in food prices. Although many
studies possess very different figures for their estimates on food prices in the future; however, all

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of them have acknowledge an increase of some sort, depending on the product and raw material.
Rises in global food prices will make it much more difficult for people to gain access to
necessary foods in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle of fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and many
other crucial ingredients that affect our health. However, with the current trends, it is quite
difficult to give a specific estimate of whether or not world hunger and malnutrition will become
more or less of a problem (Schmidhuber).
So Now What?
Our current situation is not good, at all. There is so much that we are putting on the line
due to our carelessness over the past few hundred years. However, now we can no longer point
fingers. We must take action in order to reverse, or at least slow down, the effects of our
mistakes to not only protect the environment, but to also save our species from extinction. Food
defines who we are as people; it is what keeps us going on a bad day or prevents us from nearly
come face-to-face to the reaper. We must take charge now, because this is our home and we must
protect it in order to protect ourselves.

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Works Cited
Ferdman, Roberto A. How Climate Change is Affecting the Worlds Biggest Food Company.
The Washington Post. The Washington Post. 5 September 2014. Web. 17 October 2015.
Gilbert, Natasha. "One-third of Our Greenhouse Gas Emissions Come from
Agriculture." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
Hallegatte, Stephane, et al. Shock Waves: Managing the Effects of Climate Change on Poverty.
Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World
Bank, 2016. The World Bank Open Knowledge Repository. 10 November 2015.
Schmidhuber, Josef and Francesco N. Tubiello. Global food security under climate change.
PNAS 104.50 (2007): 19703-19708.
Vaughan, Adam. "Earth's Climate Entering New 'Permanent Reality' as CO2 Hits New
High." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 9 Nov. 2015. Web. 10 Nov.
2015.