One Earth最新文献

Global corporate-industrial meat production is associated with harms to social, animal, and planetary health. Although national policy discussions are lacking, some studies suggest addressing these harms through taxation and supply chain standards. However, these proposals overlook the potential role of corporate power in creating and perpetuating these harms. Our study addresses this gap by examining how political, economic, and structural features of food systems enable the meat industry to externalize costs of production and perpetuate ecological and social harms. Here, we analyze three case studies from different stages of global supply chains, revealing a highly concentrated meat industry, close industry-government ties, reduced regulatory oversight, and entrenched cultural norms about meat’s significance to food security. It calls for policy responses that address the economic and political power of the meat industry and the enabling of social and ecological externalities. Finally, it recommends adoption of a whole-of-food system approach to addressing unaccountable industry power.

Saline lake desiccation is widespread and typically caused by anthropogenic withdrawals for agricultural, industrial, and municipal uses, but its impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is unknown. While dry-flux studies have shown that desiccating waterbodies emit carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) from exposed sediments, these studies are often seasonal and for freshwater systems, limiting their application to chronically desiccating saline lakes. We measured CO₂ and CH₄ emissions (April to November, 2020) from the exposed sediments of Great Salt Lake (Utah, United States), and compared them with aquatic emissions estimates to determine the anthropogenic emissions associated with desiccation. In 2020, the lake bed emitted 4.1 million tons of CO_2eq to the atmosphere, primarily (94%) as CO₂, constituting a ∼7% increase to Utah’s anthropogenic GHG emissions. As climate change exacerbates drought in arid regions, anthropogenic desiccation and associated climate feedbacks should be considered in assessments of global GHG trajectories as well as local GHG emissions reduction efforts.

More than 25 million tons per year of phosphorus (P) fertilizer from phosphate rock is applied to meet the increasing global food and wood demand despite limited phosphate rock reserves. Yet, the fate of applied inorganic P fertilizer and its drivers have never been systematically explored globally, although doing so can help improve P fertilizer use efficiency. Here, we synthesized 987 field P-addition observations and found that, globally, on average, 12.6% of added inorganic P fertilizer was taken up by plants, 67.2% was stored in the soil and 4.4% was lost. Increased P-addition quantity was the main reason for the decline in plant P uptake. Soil pH and bulk density also modulate the flow of added P to plants, soil, and leaching/runoff loss. Our findings highlight the urgent need to improve P fertilizer use efficiency globally by lowering the P fertilization rate, especially on near-neutral soils with low bulk density.

Climate change can significantly impact agriculture, leading to food security challenges. Most previous studies have investigated the direct climate impact on crops while neglecting the impact of heat stress on agricultural labor. Here, we assess the economic consequences of climate impacts on four major crops—maize, soybean, wheat, and rice—for scenarios involving low and high greenhouse gas emissions. Our analysis is based on the output from a new generation of global climate and crop models to drive a multiregional economic model. We find that, even under a high-emission scenario, the effect of CO₂ fertilization could lead to higher yields, resulting in lower prices for major crops, except for maize. However, heat-induced losses in agricultural labor could offset the potential economic benefits of CO₂ fertilization in crop production in Asia and Africa. Our findings emphasize the importance of addressing heat-stress impacts on agricultural labor through proactive adaptation measures.

Climate change will worsen conditions for people in the Global South, while conditions in large parts of the North will improve. Migration seems an effective adaptation strategy. However, making that a win-win for migrants and receiving communities requires revision of the food system, rules for mobility, and strategies for social integration.

One major societal challenge is meeting the constantly increasing demand for (sea)food in a sustainable way. Marine aquaculture offers large production potential, but it is crucial to define production limits that maintain ocean health. The concept of aquaculture carrying capacity (CC) provides such limits for locally defined areas. However, the ocean is subject to large- and small-scale dynamics, and far-reaching effects of aquaculture (e.g., the spread of marine diseases with ocean currents) are currently neglected in CC estimates. Here we predict potential “impact areas” with a biophysical simulation approach and find them to be larger than those currently considered in CC estimates. We suggest “impact areas” as a measure for spatial connectivity with the requirement to define what is an acceptable “impact area” case specifically. The proposed approach is applicable to various marine aquaculture systems and would drive CC estimates toward improved sustainability by considering the impact and risk of dispersal beyond the immediately adjacent area.

In a world where <30% of the Earth’s surface is land, competition for this limited but precious resource is fierce. To serve many basic living needs for a growing population, land has been converted into multiple uses, from farmland and properties to dumpsites, but often at the cost of deforestation. Andrea Bowers, a Los Angeles-based artist, commemorates a tree-siting protest via the hanging sculpture Memorial to Arcadia Woodlands Clear-Cut. In an attempt to save the clearing of a pristine grove of majestic oaks and sycamores in Arcadia for the sake of creating a sediment dump, Bowers and three other activists tied themselves to two treetops. At 100 ft above the ground, they witnessed the devastating clearance. After their release from a 2-day imprisonment, Bowers revisited the site and retrieved the legacy: a mountain of chippings. Together with ropes and other tree-sitting gear, Bowers forms the aftermath as a monument to the 250 cleared trees and their habitat.

The idea that there exists a “human climate niche” has become increasingly influential. But this idea rests on flawed and anachronistic determinist premises. It is overly climate-centric in its characterization of the challenges faced by humanity, and it fails to capture the main sources of climate-related vulnerability.

Rapidly progressing climate heating as well as ongoing economic and population growth exacerbate the challenges of reconciling the multitude of land functions and services. Terrestrial ecosystems support biodiversity and climate regulation and deliver resources like food, energy, or fiber, while infrastructures proliferate. Navigating the resulting “global land squeeze” aims to maintain a healthy biosphere while supporting land-based services for a decent living for us all. To elucidate trade-offs and synergies related to the global land squeeze, we discuss key components of the land system and their interplay, trade-offs, past trends, and current geographical patterns. We examine three social-science concepts and explore their suitability for navigating the land squeeze and identify demand-side strategies, like reducing overconsumption, that may emerge as no-regret solutions in industrialized contexts. We conclude that enhancing the analytical capabilities to steer land system change requires shifting from isolated driver-impact analyses toward the ex ante integration of societal and ecological sustainability targets on an equal footing.

Large-scale land acquisitions dispossess and marginalize smallholder farmers and Indigenous people, potentially driving zoonotic disease spillover and epidemics through complex socio-biological interactions. Agroecological practices and governance prioritizing human and environmental well-being over capital accumulation are essential to address this issue.