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by Phillip Alden

As the conversation over global warming grows we start to see the impact on our food supply. There’s no direct proof the recent heat wave in California was caused by global warming, but the thousands of cows that died were certainly a wake-up call for our dairy farmers.

Now a couple of reports raise the specter of greater problems with our food supply. A recent report from the United Nations could cause greater hunger in Africa and melt the Himalayas, with the poorest nations likely to suffer most.

A separate report involves a rise in seafood poisoning caused by warming ocean temperatures. According to an Associated Press story by journalist Michael Casey, an entire family fell ill from ciguatera poisoning after eating contaminated fish.

The U.N. report states that rising temperatures could cause the Himalayan glaciers to “decay at very rapid rates, shrinking from the present 500,000 square kilometers to 100,000 by the 2030s,” according to a draft technical summary. The damage could cause millions to go hungry because of damage to farming and water supplies.

Even a half meter (20 inch) rise in sea levels could have terrible consequences for low-lying nations and some of the island states, which have already seen a loss of land mass. Warming sea temperatures are already bleaching coral on the Great Barrier Reef, causing irreparable damage to one of the earth’s greatest treasures.

What is clear is that even minor changes in the world’s climate causes forms of damage beyond our understanding, and that our ecosystem is either much more fragile than previously believed, or that we’ve already done more damage than we think.

Although ciguatera poisoning is rarely fatal, more than 50,000 cases are reported every year, with an additional 90 percent of cases unreported. The cause is the accumulation of toxins in reefs, where dozens of fish species live. The illness itself, while growing, has been around since Homer’s Odyssey.

Seafood poisoning, melting glacial ice and rising sea temperatures are just a few of the effects of climate change. Stronger hurricanes and more intense storms are another potential effect of climate change, with some climatologists concerned these effects are already being felt. Hurricane Katrina is considered by some to be example of climate change.

The problem is there is little political will to seriously address this problem. The Kyoto Protocol on global climate change has been largely ignored by the world’s largest polluters, namely the United States and China, though no industrial country escapes scrutiny.

In the United States, a culture that centers around cars and coal has caused a system that is literally choking the life out of us. Of all the industrial nations only Russia is bound by caps under Kyoto. Until we start to seriously address how we live and how we act, there is little hope that we can slow or stop the damage we’re doing.

We keep building larger houses that require greater amounts of energy to heat and cool, driving vehicles that burn carbon and get poor mileage, and building housing developments and big-box stores that require increased use of automobiles. Changing our culture to save our environment seems a long way off, but even small changes can make a big difference. Hybrid cars and transit-oriented communities are a good start, but we clearly have to do more, and do it soon.

Phillip Alden is a freelance journalist, health educator and novelist living in Redwood Shores. He’s currently preparing his first fantasy novel for publication. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .