Mike Hoffmann is professor emeritus at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a faculty fellow with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, in Ithaca. He is lead author of “Our changing menu: Climate change and the foods we love and need.” He has done a TEDx, “Climate Change: It’s time to raise our voices,” and teaches an eCornell climate change leadership course.
Regardless of who we are, what we do, where we live, or what we believe, we have one thing in common — we all eat. And for good reason — food is essential for life. It’s also deeply imbedded in our cultures and family histories. It’s emotive and gives us a sense of well-being, and it’s personal. Let’s face it, we love it. As George Bernard Shaw said, “There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”
But as our climate changes, so does our food in an extraordinary number of ways. Hot pepper, Dijon mustard and lamb shortages have occurred; coffee and chocolate are getting more expensive; wine aromas are changing; citrus is growing in new regions; and saffron supplies are drying up.
But rather than view this as another story that pushes us into despair, what if more activist groups, chefs, food businesses, food media networks, climate change communicators and eaters see it as an opportunity to raise awareness and action on climate change? We all eat! We love food and love is the greatest motivator for action on climate change. The following alarming examples should help motivate all of us.
Even before the recent wildfires in Texas that burned an area larger than the state of Rhode Island, ranchers in Southern Plain states had been downsizing beef cattle production as drought dried up land used for grazing and raising hay. With supplies down the price of a steak is up 11% from a year ago and could go higher in coming months. Scientists tell us that droughts and extremes in rainfall are getting worse and happening faster than expected. Texas is likely to suffer more and larger wildfires in coming years because of climate change.
Heat waves are now likely to devastate the Midwest wheat crop — used for our breads, cookies, and cakes — every six years. It used to be every 100 years. In China, the same devastation is now likely every 12 years. When this happens in both countries simultaneously, up to one-fourth of the world’s wheat — the world’s most important food source — could be lost. As the world warms, yields of rice — the staple food for half the world’s population — will also decline. Last year was the hottest on record by a wide margin largely due to climate change. And our world will keep getting hotter.
Ten billion snow crabs, popular for their delicate and sweet meat, starved to death off the coast of Alaska in recent years because of ocean heat waves. Heat waves such as this occurred around the globe in 2023, a year when ocean surface temperatures were the hottest ever recorded. And ocean warming will not abate if we continue our current path.
These examples and countless others give food a unique power to help awaken everyone to the enormity of the threat that climate change poses to one of life’s needs and joys. And since this is a critical election year, let’s help awaken elected officials or those running for office who don’t accept the realities of climate change. A likely candidate for the presidency even calls it a “hoax.” We can tap the power of food and let them all know that over 60% of Republicans — their constituents — are concerned about climate change impacts on their food choices. More Democrats are concerned at over 85%. And one in five people think of words like famine, hunger, scarcity, starvation and shortages when they consider the effects climate change is having on their food. Climate change and what it means to our food is on people’s minds.
Unfortunately, two-thirds of American’s only hear about climate change in the media once a month or less. In sharp contrast, food is one of the most popular genres on television. The Food Network, for example, was recently watched by 845,000 people during prime time. Likewise, 88% of consumers in the U.S. get recipes online and about a quarter of them indicate that this helps them minimize food waste, which is an excellent way to reduce their impact on the climate. Food influencers, such as famous chefs with millions of followers, can also shift opinions about food and affect food trends. Sam Kass, once the chef for the Obamas, has started to tell this story by creating “Last Suppers” where diners learn about the changes happening to the foods on their plate because of climate change.
It’s time to see these far-reaching networks tapping the full power of food to confront climate change. Food is the ultimate climate change messenger and an audience awaits. Over 60% of adults in the U.S. want to learn more about how climate change is affecting their food, regardless of political affiliation.
Americans now rank climate change 17th as a policy priority for the president and Congress and relatively few registered voters get involved in political actions focused on tackling climate change. However, this could change if they were aware of the extraordinary changes occurring to their favorite and staple foods and what it means for what’s on the plates of their children and grandchildren. It’s time to tap the power of food and change the political winds.
Individually, we can also use one of the most important actions to confront climate change: Talk about it and use what’s happening to food to grab the attention of others.
The United Nation’s Secretary General, António Guterres, states “…our world needs climate action on all fronts - everything, everywhere, all at once.” With every bite, with every sip of drink we all take, consider how we can individually and collectively leverage the power of food to awaken many more to action on climate change. It could be the great awakening — the social movement — we desperately need to not only save the foods we all love and need, but also help keep our planet livable.
May the power of food be with you.
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