Soils and Food: SoGES develops new working group

As Americans prepares for their Thanksgiving dinners this week, it is interesting to walk through the grocery store and see so many people with carts filled to the brim containing potatoes, butter, squash, turkey, and bread. As we consume our big meal of excess, how many people’s dinner conversations will drift to food security in future years? As Americans, these are things we don’t think usually about- especially this time of the year- but this is not necessarily the case on other parts of the world.

We’ve spent our last few blog posts discussing climate refugees and climate change, and the impact it will eventually bring to our own supermarkets and dinner tables. This week again, we can’t stop thinking about how much climate change is currently effecting populations and food supplies- although for now, mainly in the developing world. When looking at soil degradation related to climate change, global hotspots of soil degradation with a high priority for soil restoration and carbon sequestration include Sub-Saharan Africa, central and south Asia, China, the Andean region, the Caribbean, and the acid savannas of South America. As stated in R. Lal’s viewpoint paper, ‘poor farmers have passed on their suffering to the land through extractive practices. They cultivate marginal soils with marginal inputs, produce marginal yields, and perpetuate marginal living and poverty.’

On this thought, we have worked to pool together Colorado State University’s extensive intellectual resources on this subject and created our first Soil Sustainability Working Group. Recognizing the issues regarding soils and food security, the Soil Sustainability Working Group aims to transform the information topology of soil science and enable scientists to more effectively test theories and advance knowledge. Understanding soil dynamics is fundamental to dealing with environmental issues such as climate change, food and energy production, clean drinking water, management of reactive nitrogen, and conservation of biodiversity. The working group is comprised of seven experts in the field of soil sciences and will leverage the diverse strengths of Colorado State University scientists by coordinating research activities and providing a platform that integrates soil data from disparate sources to facilitate more productive interaction between soil scientists and decision-makers.

Soil Sustainability Working Group Members

Diana Wall from the School of Global Environmental Sustainability
Rich Conant from the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Francesca Cotrufo from Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
Gene Kelly from the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
Keith Paustian from Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
Lee Sommers from the Agricultural Experiment Station
Joe von Fischer from the Department of Biology

Climate Change & Food Security- getting more press

As we look ahead to Copenhagen, wondering about the decision that will be made, other meetings are taking place that focus on the challenges we will face as climate change begins to effect global cycles. On Monday, during a U.N. sponsored food security summit in Rome, a plan was presented to combat threats to global food security, with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, tying these threats to climate change. "Today's event is critical. So is the climate change conference in Copenhagen next month. There can be no food security without climate security," Ban said.

Thinking about food security relating to climate change is perhaps a way to get large sections of the world’s population to understand true implications of not acting. Many people who live in inland areas (Colorado for example) have yet to see or understand the potential devastation that may be in our future (New Orleans, Burma, Indonesia, anyone?).

Climate change relating to food supply is not a new concept. In 1993, a study out of the University of Oxford, Environmental Change Unit, stated that the prospective climate change of global warming (with associated changes in hydrological regimes and other climatic variables) induced by the increasing concentration of radiatively active greenhouse gases change could have far-reaching effects on patterns of trade among nations, development, and food security.

At least 16 years later, this serious issue is making more headway into mainstream media with more studies coming out about the potential future we face. In October, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), released a study estimating that by 2050, irrigated wheat yield will have fallen by 30 percent and irrigated rice by 15 percent, and prices skyrocketing: wheat by 170 to 194 percent, rice 113 to 121 percent, and maize 148 to 153 percent higher.

If we can develop some sort of understanding about climate's effect on food supply, maybe this will develop into dialog on the full deck of cards. How does decreasing crop yields and increasing demand due to population growth effect land use isses? How do we find balance between agriculture vs. biofuel production vs. preserving our natural forests vs. all other land needs while we are slowly losing usable land to rising sea levels? How will this debate develop and effect political boundaries, political wealth and world power? Will these political issues develop into the first climate wars (as discussed in Michael Nash's documentary Climate Refugees)?

Being able to put number estimates to something that can’t be escaped (no matter your geography)- food security- may be a good way to create a larger impact of understanding for diverse audiences. It is encouraging to see the light being cast on such serious elements of climate change. One can only hope it opens dialog and thinking on the full impact climate change will have on our future.

The Human Face of Climate Change

Upon learning that we would be hosting the exclusive university screening of Mike Nash’s important documentary- Climate Refugees, it got us thinking about how to better communicate the ramifications of climate change. The opportunity for CSU to share this film with our community is a good first step.
Michael Nash’s documentary brings the mass global migration of humans caused by climate change to the spotlight with harrowing images, and strong stories. The visual provides the slap in the face that many people need to wake up and realize that this is something that will affect their lives- not just people living in far away countries. Putting a human face on an issue makes it resonate stronger and involves emotion.

As researchers, we know that it is more than just weather and sea levels, but how do we communicate this to the world at large? How do we help create the motivation for change? We won’t be able to answer these questions in this blog, but it is something that is churning in many heads campus wide.

Yesterday at our first panel discussion, "The World Gathers in Copenhagen: What to Expect and Why it is so Critical to Us," some interesting dialog was formed around the need to educate. Student attendees posed questions on how we go about creating dialog in the public that the decisions they make, ranging from the everyday things like meat consumption to the higher level concepts of cap and trade, change the global dimensions of climate, and thus will have a domino effect on how we live our lives in the future. It was a good start to generating collective thought on such an important issue.

We look forward to the panel discussion that follows the Climate Refugee screening, to see again that spark of collective thinking to begin solving such serious problems.

This exclusive university screening is free and open to the public. Colorado State students, faculty, and staff will have the opportunity to get tickets before tickets become available to the general public.

Starting Wednesday, Nov. 4, CSU students, faculty, and staff can pick up their tickets from the CSU Campus Box Office with a valid campus ID. Up to four tickets per ID will be issued. Tickets are not available online. Tickets for the general public will be available starting Friday, Nov. 6. The Campus Box Office, located in the Lory Student Center, is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.

For more information on Climate Refugees, please visit http://www.climaterefugees.com/.