“Hot: Living through the Next Fifty Years on Earth” was written by Mark Hersgaard with the aim of examine the changes that Earth will undergo in the near future as a result of climate change. This paper will focus on summarizing Chapter 8 of this book, which uncovers some of the problems that climate change will have for individuals from “Generation Hot” (those born after 1988) when it comes to feeding themselves. The book itself focuses primarily on Chiara, Hersgaard’s daughter, and how this young child will experience the problems that come with climate change and Chapter 8 (How Will We Feed Ourselves?) is no exception.
Hersgaard starts the chapter by explaining his attachment to food grown locally, and how Chiara is involved in the growing of vegetables in the family home. Hersgaard believes that this is good preparation for the future, when climate change could have a significant effect on how and where we source our food. Growing fruit and vegetable on an individual level may be beneficial when national and international crops are depleted – plus locally sourced food tastes better and is more nutritionally beneficial.
Hersgaard goes on to explain the benefits that come from growing organic crops to feed the family unit, rather than with large-scale farming. Many of the problems that have contributed to global warming, such as fossil fuel output and the subsequent effects that this has on the atmosphere, come from large-scale farming efforts. Additionally, the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers are also said to contribute to climate change from the effect that they have on wildlife, including trees. However, noticing these problems with fossil fuels may have caused more problems than it solves, because it led to the invention of biofuels which place more strain on the land available for growing food crops, again limiting supply.
In the middle sections of the chapter, Hersgaard goes on to explain the effects that climate change will have on Africa, and the subsequent issues that this may cause for the huge numbers of people living in poverty in the area. He cites two reasons why Africa is most vulnerable to climate change – firstly, that it is already extremely hot (even for the locals) and predicted rises in temperatures could make it unlivable, and secondly that it is home to a huge number of people in poverty who already struggle to find and pay for food. Rising temperatures could cause such a significant food shortage problem in this area that millions of people could die. One potential solution identified by Sawadogo, a local, is to plant more trees which could help combat water shortages, food security and climate change.
Another important point that is made in this chapter is that climate change will pose challenges to agronomy and humans will have to change their outlook on agriculture to truly adapt to the challenges of climate change. There are many problems with mass-produced supermarket produce, which can cost a lot in environmental and health values. However, Hersgaard points out that organic farming is not truly feasible on a worldwide scale and will continue to be problematic in its current form, perhaps even getting worse to match the challenges of climate change. The true problem that Hersgaard feels needs to be solved is how to bring organic, small-scale farming to the masses without compromising on quality.
Later the chapter, Hersgaard begins to cover in more detail the ways in which local farmers (that he has met) are focusing on facing climate change. He mentions smart efficiency measures that he saw near Beijing, where farmers were reducing water use by installing a drip irrigation system. He also mentions how the Chinese are adapting to the problems of excessive fossil fuel use by becoming the world’s biggest producer of solar panels. Hersgaard mentions that, whilst this won’t directly solve the problems raised by food shortages, this type of thinking could be the way that we face climate change. Another solution that Hersgaard was inspired by in China is genetic engineering – producing seeds that are hardy enough to produce food products despite the challenges of a changing climate.
Genetically modified crops and other organisms are often seen as the devil by health workers and are often shown to be problematic for the environment. Hersgaard, however, takes a different perspective and shows how GMOs can actually be beneficial technology if used in the right way. GMOs could be the potential savior for those whose food sources are being affected by climate change because they can be designed to survive flooding and extreme heat, preventing small harvests from affecting those who rely on them. Despite mentioning the positive aspects of GMO, Hersgaard does acknowledge that there are political and economic interests behind them that may not be particularly helpful in solving the food crisis.
The take-home message of this chapter seems to be that there are many challenges that will come from the changing climate with respect to food. Changing temperatures and weather conditions will affect the types of plants that can grow in the affected area, so individuals will have to find workarounds that allow them to still produce enough food to feed the population. To do this, GMOs may have to be the answer because they can be engineered to be resilient enough to face the problems of climate change. It is also noted that Africa and China provide some interesting examples of how climate change will affect food production and subsequently the lives of those who rely on local produce.
