Food and Climate Change - Come plant your winter greens!

Food and climate change: it’s an essential connection. Come to Columbia University and learn more about our individual and collective “foodprints” and how to reduce them, and get your hands dirty in the process. We’ll be planting seeds for winter greens, talking about NYC “foodprints” and a city council resolution to reduce them (www.foodprintusa.org), and showing films that delve into the connections between what we eat and the global climate. You can take a bite out of climate change with every meal.

Globally, an estimated one-third of all human-caused climate warming greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions stem from our agricultural system and land use changes, which include GHGs emitted to grow, process, package, transport, store and dispose our food. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calculated that the global livestock sector is responsible for 18% of all global GHGs, more than the transportation sector (14%). Studies have shown that organic agriculture systems emit 48–66% less carbon dioxide per hectare (about 2.5 acres) than conventional farming systems that rely on chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

This event is co-sponsored by Brighter Green (www.brightergreen.org) and other members of the New York City Food Print Alliance, who are working to help the city of New York develop a food system more focused on local and sustainable food production. Adoption of such a system would allow the City to better achieve its established goals for reducing GHG emissions while improving the environmental, health and economic needs of New Yorkers. City Council passage of a global warming “foodprint” resolution is a first and crucial step to ensuring our food system better meets these goals. Come learn how you can get involved!