Your diet affects climate change

The relationship between climate, climate variability, climate change and food is complex. Climate shapes the atmospheric conditions that are typically found in a given location. When determining which is the best crop to plant there, meteorological values from a 30-year period along with others parameters, such as soil type, are used. Also, values of temperature, humidity and precipitation will indicate suitable or unsuitable areas and suitable or unsuitable times for planting and harvesting.

Scientists and farmers use crop calendars based on the analysis of weather data to determine the best time to sow and harvest crops. Climate change poses significant challenges for this process because it affects atmospheric variables such as temperature, humidity and precipitation and thus introduces unpredictable variations into crop calendars, which in turn leads to problems for global food security.

How does climate change affect food security?

Climate change leads to alterations in the environment, such as heat and drought, which in turn affect the production, availability, processing, distribution and consumption of safe and wholesome food. One of the challenges facing the planet is identifying the risks to agriculture and food security so that we can better adapt to them and mitigate their effects.

Food consumption and emissions production

Dietary habits do not directly affect climate change. However, food consumption habits do. That is to say, where we buy our food, how it gets to our table and how it has been produced will determine whether it is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable or not.

The food system is responsible for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and thus the increase in anthropogenic climate change. One of the ways that we can try to reduce the climate impact of our diets is to buy products from local markets rather than large supermarkets or retail chains. Products from markets are more likely to be locally produced and from closer to home. And this is good, because the greater the proximity of our food products, that is, the closer to home that they are produced, the shorter their journey from farm to table and, therefore, the lower the amount of CO2 emitted during their production.  

CO2 is one of the main gases driving human-induced climate change. Consequently, consuming products that generate less CO2 will help mitigate climate change.  

Food sustainability goes beyond nutrition and the environment to include economic and sociocultural factors. In short, sustainably produced food has a lower environmental impact, which increases food and nutritional security and ensures that present and future generations can lead healthier lives.