Research Climate Change - Food

One of the themes that stood out from the brief was food and the way this effects climate change, I decided to research further into this and found some topics which would work for my animation. 

I used two main sites for my research - 

Environmental protection agency - http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/agriculture.html

Sustain web - http://www.sustainweb.org//foodandclimatechange

The main topics I found whilst researching were - 

Food Miles - This is the term given to the emissions involved with transporting food, this includes the importation by boats and planes and the transportation by lorries and cars. Food miles cause massive CO2 emissions and food in the UK alone travels 30 billion kilometres a year. Reducing food miles could have a dramatic effect on reducing CO2 emissions and the impact the food sector has on climate change. The solutions to this include buying locally and in season as the food does not have to travel as far as well as growing your own fruit and vegetables.  

Impact on crops - The impact that climate change has on crops is another topic I could cover these effects include and increased CO2 concentration in a large amount of crops.  Higher temperatures can prevent the crops from growing as can droughts. For my animation I could highlight these impacts but I would also need to show a solution. 

Impact on livestock - The animals are affected by the heat waves caused by climate change as well as the droughts. Climate change may also increase the chance that the livestock will suffer from parasites and diseases. Similar to the impact on crops I could highlight these issues in my animation. 

Impact on fisheries - The fish are also affected by climate change as the oceans become warmer and more acidic. This threatens the structures of sensitive eco systems in the oceans as well as directly harming the fish such as shellfish. The temperature change in the Oceans could also affect the timing of reproduction and migration which could have an impact on the sustainability of certain fish. 

Food waste is also a massive factor in global warming however I think this has been covered and highlighted as an issue enough so I decided not to focus on this.