The Biden-Harris White House can be commended for convening the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health highlighting the critical connections between access to healthy food and sustaining a healthy population. This article explores the impact of climate change and seeks to fill a critical gap in the national discussion. It argues that dramatic changes are needed in the way we think about domestic food security and that meaningful change will be required to assure an adequate supply of healthy food, as envisioned by the White House Conference. It explores the impact of the changes to the climate that are already in motion and argues that there is an immediate need to prepare for the impact, even as we attempt to reduce further harm. Climate change will likely prove to be the most devastating disruption to food security that the modern world has ever seen. It has already begun to impact food production, and it is a threat global food security. This is not just a problem for developing countries; it is a looming threat to agricultural food crops in the U.S., risking our supply of healthy foods and raising food prices far above current levels. This article outlines the direct impact of climate change on food production. Accentuating the danger of this impact, it explores the U.S. dependency on concentrated production areas that are particularly vulnerable to climate change. It then reveals the lack of coordinated federal policies to protect our food system, calling into question the American myth of unlimited agricultural abundance that underlies agricultural policy. The article concludes with a call for a radical realignment of our attitude and policies regarding food.
Susan A. Schneider (Thu,) studied this question.