Food and Water Insecurity

Join Paul Beckwith, Regina Valdez and Dr. Peter Carter as they discuss the challenges we face as a result of increasing water scarcity and food shortages caused by climate change.

This video was recorded in the Durdle Door Press Conference room at COP26 on Nov. 6, 2021, and was first published on this channel on January 5, 2022.

Items discussed include the following:

• Percentage of water on the planet that is potable
• San Joaquin Valley in California, which produces 12% of US agricultural output, is a desert
• Amount of water needed to produce almonds
• Watering crops with the use of aquifers
• Connection between drought, pumping water & land subsidence
• Conflict in California between farmers & individuals due to the politics of water management
• Increasing risk of synchronous global breadbasket failure
• Changes in the Jet Stream
• Food system collapse
• Regional droughts & heatwaves leading to crop failures
• By 2050, there could be a huge gap between the food that is required & food production
• Increasing frequency of droughts
• The proportion of the global population that is experiencing prolonged severe drought is increasing every year
• Conflicts due to water scarcity in Syria, India & Pakistan
• The Water cycle
• Tipping points in the climate system that exacerbate food & water shortages

Links:

• The San Joaquin Desert of California: Ecologically Misunderstood and Overlooked

• Land Subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley

• Changing risks of simultaneous global breadbasket failure - Franziska Gaupp et al.

• Newly Identified Jet-Stream Pattern Could Imperil Global Food Supplies

• Synchronized failure of global crop production - Zia Mehrabi et al.

• Climate Change Risk Assessment 2021

• Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5 C

• State of Climate Services Report

• Water resources across Europe - confronting water scarcity and drought

• Man announces he will quit drinking by 2050

• Dune

Regular Panelists:

• Dr. Peter Carter - MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute

• Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University

• Regina Valdez - Program Director, Climate Reality Project, NYC. GreenFaith Fellow and LEED Green Associate

Video Production:

• The UNFCCC’s COP26 Media Crew in the Durdle Door Press Conference Room

• Charles Gregoire – Climate Reality Leader, Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum

• Heidi Brault - Climate Reality Leader, BA(Psychology), Library & Information Technician Diploma - Video production and website assistant - Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP26 Team Lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum.

Acknowledgements

Once again thanks to the following organizations for making our presence at COP26 possible:

• Tzu-Chi Foundation
• Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development
• International Society of Ecological Economics
• Sustainable Population Australia

Attributions:

Background Music:

• Title: Through the City II
• Author: Crowander
• Source: Free Music Archive
• License: BY-NC 4.0

Image and Video:

• Image and Video Attributions