Elsevier

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 222, 1 August 2020, 112929
Physiology & Behavior

Eating our way through the Anthropocene

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.112929Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Climate change will require us to transform our food system and diets.

  • Food systems shape diets, which have direct effects on people's nutrition and health.

  • Our food choices carry ramifications that reverberate throughout the food system to affect human health and the environment.

  • Food systems represent an opportunity to achieve these intertwined goals of health and sustainability

Abstract

This paper examines the complex interactions between food systems, diets, and the environment. We discuss the challenges facing the food system as a result of environmental degradation and climate change. We review the state of current diets and their effects on human health outcomes. As we consider paths forward, we examine holistic solutions that align nutrition, health, and environmental goals. Finally, we identify ethical questions relevant to the changing global food system. We consider our moral obligations to other people – both now and in the future – and the planet, and we posit that eating is an ethical act requiring reflection at all scales.

Introduction

Food systems represent the nexus between human health and environmental well-being. Food systems help to determine diets, thus shaping nutrition and health outcomes. Environmental factors affect what foods people are able to eat, but the food system also carries negative consequences for planetary well-being. The challenges posed by climate change will constrain the food system as we move forward, adding more demands to the already complex, interconnected relationship between the food system and the environment.

The Green Revolution of the mid-20th century transformed the structure of agriculture, and, in turn, food systems and human health. The food system's supply chain – from processing and transport to distribution and consumption – changed as agriculture became more intensive. These developments in food and agriculture brought about major benefits for food security, as rates of undernutrition and deaths from famine declined around the world.

However, the transformations to agriculture and the food system caused negative repercussions for the environment [23]. As nearly all of Earth's systems show signs of serious impact from humans, many scientists suggest that we have entered a new geological era, The Anthropocene, which is characterized by the influence of humans on the planet [18]. A preponderance of global evidence shows that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other planetary system processes are now altered by humans [29,34]. Of the human behaviors driving the changes of the Anthropocene, agriculture and food production contribute significantly to climate change and other environmental stressors.

Despite numerous calls for action to mitigate these anthropogenic effects (e.g., (Hoegh-Goldberg et al., n.d.; [14,24]), the pressure on Earth's systems shows little sign of lessening. Climate modeling shows that an increase of more than 0.5C from the current global mean surface temperature of 0.87C will have devastating, irreparable effects on the planet's habitability for humans and many other species [13]. If we continue on our current path, the global surface temperature will increase by 3C to 4C above the pre-industrial period [14]. The projected warming of the planet will result in more hot days and hotter hot days across the globe, with regions around the equator becoming unsafe for human health [14].

Over the next 50 years, agriculture and food systems will be significantly affected by changes in the planet's systems. Hotter temperatures, a more limited water supply, and the acidification of the soil and oceans will make it more difficult to produce food for a growing population [13]. Given that food systems contribute to environmental stress and experience the repercussions of it, they are both instigators and casualties of climate change.

Moving forward in a world affected by climate change will require us to transform our food system and diets. To ensure that everyone has equitable access to sufficient, nutritious food, food systems will need to support both human health and environmental sustainability. Achieving these goals requires engaging with ethical questions about what we eat and how we produce our food.

Section snippets

Food systems: instigators and casualties of climate change

Food systems directly affect the climate and environment, largely through agriculture, but they are also influenced by planetary well-being. Agriculture is a major contributor to the environmental changes of the Anthropocene. The industry now uses 37% of the earth's land and 70% of its fresh water supply [26]. Agriculture is the biggest source of nutrient runoff, causing hypoxia and acidification of the planet's freshwater and ocean ecosystems [14]. This, along with the accelerated clearing of

The effects of diets on nutrition and health

Food systems shape diets, which have direct effects on people's nutrition and health. The Green Revolution contributed to reductions in global malnutrition, helping to lower rates of undernourishment from 18% to about 10% globally. Stunting in children has also lessened. Deaths from famine declined below one million for the first time in the 2010s [2,4].

Although rates of undernutrition have decreased, malnutrition still remains a major concern. Nearly every country now faces the complex,

The ethics of eating: trade-offs and obligations

Eating is an inherently ethical act: in choosing what to eat, we engage in moral decision-making and our decisions contribute to societal and environmental outcomes. As individuals and societies, our decisions about food reflect our aesthetic, moral, cultural, and religious values. Our food choices carry ramifications that reverberate throughout the food system to affect human health and the environment.

The complex connections between food, health, and the environment give rise to ethical

Conclusion

The multivariate and interrelated goals of optimal human health, sustainable food systems, and planetary well-being are difficult to achieve. As individuals and societies moving forward amidst the challenges posed by climate change, we must maintain and negotiate these imperatives. Human behavior has led to climate change, and our behavior, now and in the future, matters if we are to mitigate its effects on human and planetary well-being. The effects of climate change are already being felt on

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