Climate change may disrupt global food system within a decade, World Bank says

[GliderGuider]

The World Bank - what a bunch of defeatist doomers!

Climate change may disrupt global food system within a decade, World Bank says

The world is headed "down a dangerous path" with disruption of the food system possible within a decade as climate change undermines nations' ability to feed themselves, according to a senior World Bank official.

Rising urban populations are contributing to expanded demand for meat, adding to nutrition shortages for the world's poor. Increased greenhouse gas emissions from livestock as well as land clearing will make farming more marginal in many regions, especially in developing nations, said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Group Vice President and special envoy for climate change.

"The challenges from waste to warming, spurred on by a growing population with a rising middle-class hunger for meat, are leading us down a dangerous path," Professor Kyte told the Crawford Fund 2014 annual conference in Canberra on Wednesday.

"Unless we chart a new course, we will find ourselves staring volatility and disruption in the food system in the face, not in 2050, not in 2040, but potentially within the next decade," she said, according to her prepared speech.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Learn how to farm now.

And how to preserve food.

And how to grow non-meat proteins.

I'm keeping an eye on Japanese indoor LED farming. It seems like a possible way to reuse all the old defunct big-box stores that went out of business.

[villager]

2. Or that *will* go out of business, when other systems start to break down...

I like that notion, Erich.

How water intensive is the indoor LED farming?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. Far less, actually.

And no pesticides, as long as they're careful about controlling entrances and exits.

Since it's an enclosed system, the water they pump in that evaporates off is trapped in the building. Now it's mostly being used so far for short crops, like lettuce, that they can stack 10 or 20 deep on shelving, so I'm not sure how well it could be adapted to things like corn, that grow pretty tall. With the short stuff, they were claiming massive yield increases over a given area, since they can go in 3 dimensions by stacking so many crops in the same space.

[villager]

5. Abandoned shopping centers will be the new farms

What about raising fish? Aquaponics?

Otherwise, folks will need to make do with a lot less animal protein...

[NYC_SKP]

4. Easily within a decade, it's happening now.

I think we are on the brink of a a species die-off, and it starts with scarcity of water and famine.

Mitigating activities include major downsizing, shifting to plant based proteins, and relocating populations.

On a related note, I LOL at how defensive some folks have been of their idea to deploy desalination plants in California so that people don't have to start acting like good global citizens.

[PoutrageFatigue]

6. Well isn't that special....

...think that'll inspire REAL change, or just more re-arranging of the old deck chairs..?

[GliderGuider]

10. The system is too big to change in time.

Re-arranging the deck chairs is all we've got left. Would you like one on the port or starboard railing?

[PoutrageFatigue]

17. Portside if you please...

[Demeter]

15. Thing is, the World Bank is Jealous. Disrupting food supplies is THEIR prerogative!

[Hari Seldon]

7. The predictions of doom keep moving up

I wonder if we will get out of 2015 without a major collapse...

[arcane1]

8. Thanks to the dumb-asses who keep making it worse, who knows?

Idiot conservatives have a tendency to ruin everything. Especially the morons who deny science.

[Hari Seldon]

11. I think it is science that has been conservative

The published science consistently underestimates the damage that is being done.

The problem is far worse then anyone seems willing to admit, and we are all in denial.

[GliderGuider]

12. I completely agree. And welcome to DU.

Good luck with that psychohistory thingy!

[Hari Seldon]

13. thanks

Seldon's the name

vague long-term prediction is my game!!!



here's one:

the Democratic House candidates fare better than expected this november

[Judi Lynn]

19. If only! Welcome to D.U. ! n/t

[arcane1]

14. Great point!

[caraher]

16. Published science is intrinsically conservative

IPCC-published science is even more so, as they have to work with the peer-reviewed literature than produce a consensus document that does not outstrip what they can absolutely back up.

So a good rule of thumb is, expect the IPCC worst-case scenarios to be a tad optimistic...

[Starboard Tack]

9. 10 years sounds about right. Maybe a little optimistic.

The California drought could trigger a collapse sooner unless they get substantial precipitation this coming winter and the following few winters. The reserves are all but gone.

[silverweb]

18. Meanwhile...

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Grain shipments sit on the sidelines while oil shipments take priority on our railroads. Genius.

[font face="Arial"]http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014880584