Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet

by Hannah Ritchie

Food: the heart of the world’s sustainability problems Look at any of the world’s environmental problems and food lies close to the centre. It really is at the nexus of sustainability. As seen in Chapter 3, the food system is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But even if we were to take climate change out of the picture, we would need to fix our food system to tackle our other environmental problems. Worried about pressures on freshwater supplies? Agriculture is responsible for around 70% of global freshwater withdrawals. In some tropical countries, more than 90% is used for farming.19 Worried about deforestation? As we have seen, take agriculture out of the picture and the problem almost disappears. Worried about biodiversity loss? Again, food production is the biggest pressure on the world’s wildlife.20 It always has been. From overhunting animals for food and claiming their habitats for farmland, to killing off ecosystems with pesticides and fertilisers, the largest threat to the world’s animals is human demand for food. Worried about water pollution? You guessed it: farming comes out on top.