SUAREZ: Welcome back. We now begin the third and final hour of the annual World Food Day Teleconference. Suzanne Hunt, Cynthia Rosenzweig and Stephen Schneider are here to answer your questions and let me stress the importance of your questions...
What is the responsibility of governments, businesses, and other economies for making the transition from the world’s current cheap agricultural labor force to reflect a more equitable payment for agricultural labor, especially with the new drive for cheap fuel from ag resources?
- Quesiont from the University of Wisconsin at Madison
I see your point about charging people for the price of emissions when they pay for fruits and vegetables so hopefully to lessen the amount of emissions produced. However, in America we already have a huge problem in that convenience foods are cheaper than fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables. If your solution is to increase prices, how do you propose health care providers encourage their clients to eat more fruits and vegetables as cost goes up?
- Question received from Megan Borne
Some of us may not live long enough to see the dividends of the energy conservation measures that have been proposed. Why must we be invested in it?
- Question from Indiana State University
Being that the Kyoto Protocol has not been ratified by the United States and most likely never will be, what is the best alternative solution for our government to mitigate green house emissions?
- Question from the University of Colorado
What can we do as individuals and communities to encourage local food production and consumption?
- Question from Clemson University in South Carolina
This question is directed to everyone, of course, but in the first hour I believe Suzanne Hunt mentioned the efficiency of automobiles in Europe is nearly twice that of what it currently is in the U.S. This is a disparity that was quite shocking to me. My question is two-pronged: what is happening in Europe to make vehicles so efficient there and what forces are preventing U.S. vehicles from becoming more efficient?
- Question from Indiana University, Bloomington
We know of farmers who use integrated pest management to address CO2 content within soil, meaning that they don’t use pesticides or herbicides. In what way do those people who have traditional knowledge to share and are most drastically affected on a daily basis by climate change be included in the conversation to find sustainable solutions to water shortages and agricultural disasters?
- Question from the Cornell Cooperative Extension in New York
Plant breeders would likely argue that they bred plants for adaptation for varied environmental conditions for many years. Thus, traditional plant breeding coupled with more recent advances in molecular biology will easily produce plants that are adapted to global warming. What would be your response to this optimistic view? And this question is particularly directed to Cynthia who offered a more optimistic scenario than some of the other speakers.
- Question from the University of Florida in Gainesville
What steps should developed countries take with respect to climate change so as to avoid a future food crisis in developing countries? What set of policies are appropriate for the two groups?
- Question from Radford University in Virginia
Could you explain a little bit more about inter-cropping and how it’s useful and another question we had is what is the promise of fuel cells in this environmental problem we face?
- Question from the University of Southern Mississippi
What would be some of the benefits and consequences for agriculture that would result from using nuclear energy?
- Question from Chapman University in California
My area is integrated pest management and specifically weed management, both in agricultural and non-agricultural settings. I’ve often wondered about the term pest when we refer to organisms which stand in our way based on our needs and conveniences. If the planet were to consider one species as pests, would it be homo sapiens?”
- Question from West Virginia University
Closing thoughts
Teleconference Summary: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Q&A