I previously 👇 documented 20 mechanisms through which climate change is 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 disrupting food production.

Below I am adding to the list including several newly documented mechanisms. 

 *thread*

Several primary impacts relate to altered soil & plant chemistry & biology:

1. Disruption of the phosphorous cycle - the second most vital element for plants after nitrogen
https://t.co/469VD58O9x
2. Decreased content of key nutrients in major crops 

https://t.co/NollJV7ey7
3. Reduced chill hours required for many plants to bloom normally in the spring

https://t.co/yfHFIPZWDt
Other additional primary impacts include:

4. Fossil fuel pollution impacts on crops - this is not a result of climate change per se, but is included since it is due to the same root cause (fossil fuel use):
https://t.co/JJ2Sd0PImH
5. Severe crop damage from wind storms - in this case, ~$7.5 Billion in damage from a single storm:

https://t.co/zGxdZ43wei
6. Also wind (& heat) related - increasing prevalence of ‘furnace winds’. 

-these are as bad as they sound - they can damage crops in a few short hours:

https://t.co/43Zh8GhzY6
7. And another phenomenon that is an intensification of the existing- “flash droughts”

https://t.co/sDoYbAJUnA
New secondary factors include:

1. Hoarding - even at the national/international scale - something we have disturbingly see with #COVIDー19.

Don't expect your neighbours and allies to come to the rescue:
https://t.co/T9FAWPFFl8
2. Farmer mental health taking a toll - in the U.S. (https://t.co/V5EQraftiu) and internationally, in extreme cases leading to suicide (https://t.co/VFIe2ipZZy)
Most worryingly, we are now seeing a rapid increase in frequency of extreme weather, whereby farmers are being devastated by 2, 3 or sometimes more incidents in short succession. Recent examples:

a) South Korea hit by a succession of typhoons: https://t.co/UlTGsImjXB
b) In the US: flooding, drought and a derecho storm in Iowa

https://t.co/ZCbQTb9EgR
c) in the UK - Farmers have experienced 'pretty much every weather extreme possible' over the past 12 months

https://t.co/6UKaRuChMo
d) some Australian vineyards have faced "frost, flood, insect attack, bushfire & one of the worst droughts on record— all in the last 18 months"  

 https://t.co/czfBLFlIwV

More from Climate change

The UK government's climate advisory body is launching its next carbon budget: basically, outlining what the UK can emit between 2033 and 2037. It's a big deal - launch video starting right now.
Watch along:


Will tweet along snippets. Pretty relevant to...............everything, really. #UKCarbonBudget

"Instead of being just a budget, it's a pathway we have to tread to reach net zero in 2050" @lorddeben

Just like quite a few other modelling exercises, CCC use a spectrum between behaviour change and between technological change. #UKCarbonBudget.

Both = best (just like @AEMO_Media's Step Change scenario in their ISP)


'Balanced' is what they use for their recs. "We're doing 60% of the emissions reductions in the first 15 years, and then 40% in the next".

The slinky kitty curve....good to see. No evidence of delaying action to Dec 29 2049, here. #UKCarbonBudget


"By front loading, we're minimising the UK's contribution to cumulative emissions" - really important point. A slow path to net zero - more climate harm than a fast one. #UKCarbonBudget

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"I lied about my basic beliefs in order to keep a prestigious job. Now that it will be zero-cost to me, I have a few things to say."


We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.

Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)

It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.

Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".