Climate is Food Year in Review
Posted on January 1, 2023
Happy New Year from Sustainable Earth Eating!
Before we put 2022 in the rearview, Food is Climate takes a look at some of the biggest climate and food headlines of the year.
January
USDA announced investing up to $225 million in partner-driven conservation on agricultural and forest land.
February
Megadrought led to the Southwest’s driest two decades in at least 1,200 years according to Nature Climate Change.
March
Satellite images show the Amazon rainforest is hurtling toward a ‘tipping point’ as images taken over the past several decades reveal that more than 75% of the rainforest is losing resilience.
April
In a “science rebellion,” an estimated 1,000 scientists in more than 25 countries staged demonstrations to demand that world leaders do far more to reduce climate-warming emissions, including a handful of researchers who were arrested for locking themselves to entryways leading into the White House and major banks that fund fossil fuel projects.
May
Four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021, yet another clear sign that human activities are causing planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere.
June
Unprecedented flooding begins in Pakistan, submerging parts of the country for months and affecting more than 33 million people.
July
Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin and 31 House members urged the White House to ensure that all federal facilities offer vegetarian entrees wherever they serve meals.
August
President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, touted as “the biggest step forward on climate ever,” which includes investments in domestic energy and decreasing carbon emissions.
September
President Biden convened a conference on Hunger, Health and Nutrition for the first time in 50 years to end hunger and address diet-related diseases.
October
Wildfires in Seattle, Portland and other cities of the US Northwest experienced some of the worst air quality in the world, choking residents and casting an eerie haze across the skyline.
November
COP27 reached a breakthrough agreement on a new “loss and damage” fund for vulnerable countries that have been severely affected by climate disasters they did not create – like Pakistan, a developing country that experienced historic flooding in June.
December
New York City Mayor announced $44 million investment for lifestyle medicine, including training medical professionals on plant-based nutrition as a treatment for chronic illnesses.
Cheers to making 2023 a healthy and happy year for you and our planet!