So, what are you giving up for your Climate Lent? How about abundant food? That is, how about growing less food to offset the effects of increased carbon in the atmosphere? Bo Huang, Francesco Cherubini and friends from the Industrial Ecology Programme at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology published a study that indicates a reduction in cropland has a mitigating effect on warming. * Essentially, their findings indicate that abandoned cropland plays a role in regional climate control.
Okay, that’s not too difficult to believe. After all, such cropland can turn to carbon dioxide sinks when trees replace crops. But even before the forests grow on abandoned cropland, the land’s albedo increases. With increased reflectivity comes decreased warming of the air above the land. Over the course of the past 24 years, abandoned cropland or repurposed cropland covering an area the size of Switzerland resulted in a cooling of western Europe by about one degree Celsius, an effect the article’s authors say is the result of abandoned cropland.
Here’s where you come in to say, “I’m concerned enough about global warming that I’m going to take personal action.” Lowering food waste and promoting more efficient agriculture are two recommendations that arise from the study. Oh! You don’t farm? Not even garden? Get your food from the grocery store? Still, you can do the first if not the second. For Climate Lent—which, as I mentioned, isn’t just the six weeks in spring, but maybe for the next 10 to 100 millennia—start fasting. That will cut down on food waste. But then there’s the other problem. With fewer acres devoted to cropland and a world population growing at an astounding rate, you probably won’t have much of a choice in this anyway.
Of course, the growing population will probably result in another repurposing of newly abandoned cropland, turning forest back to agriculture. What a conundrum? Do we plant food or forests? This discussion and this day, Ash Wednesday, are making me hungry.
* Huang, B., Hu, X., Fuglstad, G. et al. Predominant regional biophysical cooling from recent land cover changes in Europe. Nat Commun 11, 1066 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14890-0