The food we eat is destroying the climate — here’s how to fix it
WASHINGTON DC – AUGUST 26, 2022. A bowl of beef, rice, eggs, and vegetables. | Image: Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post via Getty Images.
The global food system, and the agriculture industry that supports it, could cause as much global warming as all human activity has caused since the industrial revolution, new research finds.
The planet has already warmed by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times. That might not seem like much, but it’s the primary driver of more extreme weather and a cascade of other dangerous effects from climate change. Under the current status quo, greenhouse gas emissions from our food system alone could warm the planet by an additional degree. That’s enough to blow past global climate goals set under the Paris agreement and significantly intensify climate disasters.
Fortunately, there are ways to prevent that grim scenario, according…
