15.08.19
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)'s Impact on Fruits & Vegetables are Devastating.
Increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) — projected to be beneficial for crop productivity — can reduce the nutritional quality of staple foods like fruit, vegetables, wheat and rice, according to a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). it’s also making some of our most important crops less nutritious by changing their chemical makeup and diluting vitamins and minerals. This could put about 900 million people, living in low-income countries, especially in Asia, at risk of low nutrition. The potential health consequences are large, given that there are already billions of people around the world who don’t get enough protein, vitamins or other nutrients in their daily diet. If crop scientists can’t solve the problem, larger changes may be needed to blunt the negative effect on nutrition worldwide. Presently, more than 2 billion people worldwide are estimated to be deficient in one or more nutrients. In general, humans tend to get a majority of key nutrients from plants: 63% of dietary protein comes from vegetal sources, as well as 81% of iron and 68% of zinc. It has been shown that higher atmospheric levels of CO2result in less nutritious crop yields, with concentrations of protein, iron, and zinc being 3%-17% lower when crops are grown in environments where CO2concentrations are 550 parts per million (ppm) compared with crops grown under current atmospheric conditions, in which CO2 levels are just above 400 ppm.The bottom line is that people will need more diverse diets with a range of quality food sources, that’s already a major challenge. Credit: THE YEARS PROJECT
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
