This document discusses the relationship between climate change and global food security. It provides evidence that climate change is causing more extreme weather events like floods and droughts, which threaten global food production and could lead to a worldwide food crisis. Rising temperatures also suppress crop yields, especially for commodities like soybeans. The Midwest region of the US may see corn and soybean losses of 19-63% by the end of the century without significant farmer adaptation. Climate change impacts food security by reducing access, availability, and stability of food prices. It poses national security risks and could exacerbate conflicts by escalating competition for resources. Urban communities are also vulnerable to food supply disruptions.

1. Climate Change
& Food Security
From Science to Action

2. “The greenhouse effect has been
detected, and it is changing
our climate now.”
The Convergence of Climate Science and Political Science
NASA scientist James Hansen’s June 24, 1988 Testimony
before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee

3. • Hotter temperatures were melting the
icecaps and glaciers, raising sea levels.
• Weather events were becoming more
extreme, with bigger and more deadly
hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.
• Heat waves, droughts and wildfires
were increasing in frequency and
lasting longer.

4. Climate change could lead to global food crisis
Associated Press 4/10/2008
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Scientists warned Thursday that
climate change in coming decades will cause more floods in the
Northern Hemisphere and droughts in the south and in arid
areas, which may lead to a global food crisis.
Areas that will suffer water shortages include the
Mediterranean Sea basin, the western U.S., parts of southern
Africa and northeastern Brazil.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman
Rajendra Pachauri said at the end of a meeting in Budapest that
the rising frequency and intensity of floods and droughts could
lead to a food crisis.

5. ‘Food Security’
“Food security exists when all people, at all
times, have physical and economic access to
sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets
their dietary needs and food preferences for
an active and healthy life.”
World Food Summit, 1996
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

6. “Throughout the 21st
century, climate-change
impacts are projected
to… further erode food
security, prolong existing
and create new poverty
traps — particularly in
urban areas and emerging
hot spots of hunger… All
aspects of food security
are potentially affected
by climate change,
including food access,
utilization and price
stability.”
Climate Change 2014:
Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability

7. “Climate disruptions to
agricultural production
have increased in the
past 40 years and are
projected to increase
over the next 25 years.
By mid-century and
beyond, these impacts
will be increasingly
negative on most crops
and livestock.”
May 2014

8. University of Nebraska-Lincoln
September 2014
“Under both low and high emissions
scenarios, the number of high
temperature stress days over 100°F
is projected to increase substantially
in Nebraska and the Great Plains
region. By mid- century (2041-
2070), this increase for Nebraska
would equate to experiencing
typical summer temperatures
equivalent to those experienced
during the 2012 drought and heat
wave… which was the driest and
hottest year for the state based on
the climatological record going back
to 1895.”

9. UNL Today Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Researchers show climate change
is suppressing soybean yields
Climate change cost American soybean farmers an estimated $11 billion in
unrealized potential yield in the past two decades, a newly published study says.
A research team that includes UNL's
James Specht, emeritus professor of
agronomy and horticulture, has reported
that climate change is affecting soybean
yields.

10. “Climate change will contribute to food and water
scarcity, will increase the spread of disease, and
may spur or exacerbate mass migration.”
Department of Defense 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review

11. “Climate change will bring
hotter temperatures, changing
rainfall patterns and more
frequent natural disasters.
These effects could slow the
growth of food production by 2
percent each decade for the
rest of the century. Farmers
everywhere will be affected
… If these challenges are
not addressed, consumers
will need to be prepared for
higher food prices and
potential food shortages.”
Advancing Global Food Security in the
Face of a Changing Climate, May 2014
Doug Bereuter
Member of Congress,
Nebraska (1979-2004)
Co-Chair, Global Agricultural
Development Initiative,
Chicago Council on Global Affairs

12. Henry Paulson
George W. Bush’s
Treasury Secretary
& Co-Chair,
Risky Business
Project
George Shultz
Ronald Reagan’s
Secretary of State
& Risky Business
Committee
Member
“Our research shows that under the ‘business as
usual’ scenario and assuming no significant
adaptation by farmers… the Midwest region as a
whole faces likely yield declines of up to 19% by
mid-century and 63% by the end of the century.”
Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States,
June 2014

13. “Over the next 5 to 25 years, without signifi-
cant adaptation by farmers, some counties
in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana will likely
see average commodity crop losses up to
18 to 24% due to extreme heat each year.”
January 2015

14. “The pressures caused by climate change
will influence resource competition while
placing additional burdens on economies,
societies and governance institutions around
the world. These effects are threat
multipliers that will aggravate stressors
abroad such as poverty, environmental
degradation, political instability and social
tensions – conditions that can enable terrorist
activity and other forms of violence.”
Department of Defense 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review

15. "Among the future trends that will impact our
national security is climate change. Rising global
temperatures, changing precipitation patterns,
climbing sea levels, and more extreme weather events
will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger,
poverty and conflict. They will likely lead to food and
water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over
refugees and resources, and destruction by natural
disasters in regions across the globe.”
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel
October 13, 2014
“Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap”

16. “The changing climate is already
serving as a catalyst for conflict.
Consider, for example, the
severe drought in the years
leading up to the civil war in
Syria. The drought didn’t cause
the war, but it certainly served
as a destabilizing factor.
Struggles for control of
food, water and energy supplies
escalate tensions between
ethnic groups, religious groups
and nations. And as we’re
seeing in Iraq, ancient tensions
can flare up into deadly
conflict.”
July 6, 2014
Rear Admiral David Titley (ret.)
Former “Oceanographer” and “Navigator”
of the U.S. Navy, Fellow of the American
Meteorological Society & member of
the CNA Military Advisory Board.
He spoke at UNL October 30, 2014

17. Yeah, but… That’s the
‘Developing World.’
Surely, such a thing
couldn’t happen here.
Could it?

19. New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina

20. Lord Cameron
of Dillington
British House of Lords
Chair of UK's All Party
Parliamentary Group
on Agriculture and
Food for Development
NINE
MEALS
FROM
ANARCHY

21. ‘Just in Time
Delivery’
Yourtypical grocery
store stocks just three
days worth

22. “There will be rats, mayhem and
maybe even murder.”
Lord Cameron

23. Four Things Anyone
Who Likes to Eat
Should Know about
Our Food Supply...

24. The average bite of food on our plate
travels 1,346 miles to get there.
“U.S. Agriculture: Potential Vulnerabilities.” Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, CA.
Prepared for: Office of Civil Defense, Office of the Secretary of the Army,
January 1969
“Because about one-fifth of all food consumed in the U.S. is
imported, our food supply and security can be significantly
affected by climate variations and changes in other parts of the
world. The import share has increased over the last two
decades, and the U.S. now imports 13% of grains, 20% of
vegetables (much higher in winter months), almost 40% of fruit,
85% of fish and shellfish, and almost all tropical products such as
coffee, tea, and bananas. Climate extremes in regions that supply
these products to the U.S. can cause sharp reductions in
production and increases in prices.”
2014 National Climate Assessment

25. California
Central Valley
The California Central Valley is the source of 70%
of all the lettuce consumed in the U.S.
U.S. Drought Monitor
Map of California - February 10, 2015
D0 - Abnormally Dry
D1 - Moderate Drought
D2 - Severe Drought
D3 - Extreme Drought
D4 - Exceptional Drought
The brown-colored
area is the worst
condition of
“Exceptional Drought”
The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the
National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of
Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Map courtesy of NDMC-UNL.

26. 90percent
of the $4.4 billion
Nebraskans annually spend
on food leaves the state…

27. The largest irrigated crop in America is the lawn.
According to NASA, there are three times more acres of lawns in the U.S.
than irrigated corn — enough to cover the entire state of Ohio.

28. The Moral:
The farther away we are from
our food supply, the more
food insecure we are.

30. The Food Security Question of the Day:
Why do those of us
who live in the
city always plant
things that we
can’t eat?

31. Home, Sweet Home (prior to 2009)

33. … The ‘Work-in-Progress’ (as of February 2013)

34. …and as of September 2014

35. Our Lawn-free Front Yard with Bee-friendly, Drought-tolerant
Perennials

37. Growing Food for Bees and People in the Public
Right-of-Way

39. Looking for the ‘Huh’ Factor
( *Notice all the lawns up the block… )

40. What the Neighbors have to look at…

41. * Note the roof-top Solar Panels

47. The Movie Stars
As featured on NET’s “Backyard Farmer”

49. Plat map for ‘The Hamlet’ – our city block bounded by 25th
& 26th
Streets and ‘T’ & ‘U’ Streets
in the Hawley Neighborhood Historic District near Downtown Lincoln (photo taken 2010)

50. Aerial photo of ‘The Hamlet’ city block (photo taken 2011)

66. Potatoes
growing in
the Public
Right-of-Way

73. United Nations: “Of the 100 crop species that provide 90 percent
of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees.”

74. A panoramic view of part of the Hamlet’s six tenths of an acre
neighborhood garden & orchard in the interior of the block
(photo taken July 2012)

80. Strawberry
Lawn

81. Summer

82. FALL

86. Plat map for ‘The Hamlet’ – our city block bounded by 25th
& 26th
Streets and ‘T’ & ‘U’ Streets
in the Hawley Neighborhood Historic District near Downtown Lincoln (photo taken 2010)

88. The Winter Garden

95. The Urban Gardener’s
Goal
To put something home-grown on the table every day
— whether it’s fresh, stored, canned, fermented, dried
or frozen.
In an urban environment, ‘self-sufficiency’ will never be an
option. There’s no room in town for fields of corn and wheat
and we can’t keep the animals we need for dairy and meat.
But even at the city block level, we can be growing fresh
greens year-round, preserving our garden harvest, and
keeping bees and a couple of chickens for eggs.
We’ll be making more efficient and responsible use of
available resources, getting plenty of exercise and giving

97. Locavore:
One who eats foods grown locally whenever
possible, generally within 50-100 miles of home.
Locavores connect more closely with their food
sources by supporting local farmers and
businesses — relishing in the pleasure of eating
fresher, more nutritious foods while reducing the
carbon footprint of food production, packaging
and transportation.

98. Omaha
Local
Foodshed
Lincoln
Local
Foodshed

99. Nebraska Regional Foodshed

101. Photo Credits & Media Coverage
• Jean Lewis, JeanLewisPhotography.net
• Doug Boyd, Lincoln Green by Design
• Jacob Hannah, Lincoln Journal Star
• Jeff Nelson, Hamlet neighbor
• Gina Egenberger, Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department
• Susan Alleman, Facebook Page administrator
Backyard Farmer: “Growing Your Own Food”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU0EpplTtT4
Backyard Farmer: “Urban Chickens”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg63teQDB_0
City of Lincoln The Urban Page: “The Community & Garden Effect”
http://www.lincoln.ne.gov/city/urban/reports/pdf/urbanpg/v17i2s13.pdf
Mother Earth News: “How We Created a ‘Homestead Hamlet’”
http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/neighborhood-gardens-
zm0z14amzsor.aspx?PageId=1#axzz2wAEjBrlF
TEDxLincoln: “Growing Food, Growing Community – The Example of the Hawley Hamlet”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0Gqp9tYpF8

102. Hawley Hamlet Food Production
Estimates
An acre is 43,560 square feet – about 91% of a football field (excluding the end zones
and counting just the 100 yards of the field, from sideline to sideline).
The Hawley Hamlet has approximately 31,000 square feet of growing space (roughly
70% of an acre – or 65 yards of a football field).
Assume half of that 31,000 square feet (15,500) is footpaths, which leaves 15,500
square feet of actual growing area.
Further assume the metric that, in general, you can harvest half a pound of food per
square foot: 15,500 square feet x .5 lbs, and you end up with 7750 pounds of harvested
produce annually.
According to the USDA, the average American eats 2,000 pounds of food a year, with
vegetables and fruits comprising anywhere from 10-30% of that total (200-600 pounds).
Assuming the lower 10% figure of 200 pounds (which excludes supposed vegetable
items like potato chips, French fries and tortilla chips), the 7750 pounds of produce the
20 households in the Hawley Hamlet are growing (if stored, frozen, canned and dried)
would be sufficient to meet the dietary vegetable and fruit needs of all 38 people who live
there.