Giving Compass' Take:

• The New Food Economy discusses a study analyzing the impact of climate change on health and the future of nutrition and food security: The outlook is grim, but we can still act.

• What is being done to curb the harmful effects of climate change? How can philanthropy help address this issue through more sustainable solutions in the agriculture industry? 

• Read more on the relationship between climate change and public health problems.

It’s been almost exactly one year since Hurricane Harvey wrought havoc in Texas and Louisiana, shattering storm records and dumping more than 60 inches of rain on the region over the course of its six-day rampage. At the time, we were reporting on cattle rescue operations and the food safety hazards to expect after power outages. Many other media outlets were quick to link the unprecedented scale of the flooding in Houston to climate change. One scientist told The Atlantic that up to 30 percent of Harvey’s total rainfall could be attributed to climate change caused by humans.

When we talk about the impacts of climate change on food security, major weather events like hurricanes tend to get a lot of air time. It makes sense — they’re dramatic, they’re tangible, and the economic impacts are relatively simple to measure. Last year, for instance, natural disasters cost the United States agricultural sector more than $5 billion.

But a growing body of research is starting to show that, beyond the droughts and floods we already expect from climate change, we’re also in for a change in the nutrient content of the food crops we rely on every day. Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will affect plant growth and suppress the levels of zinc, iron, and protein in staple crops.

According to a study released Monday in the journal Nature, this nutrient decline will mean that, by 2050, an additional 175 million people worldwide will be deficient in zinc, and 122 million more won’t be eating enough protein. Worse, 1.4 billion women and children under the age of five, who are living in countries with increased rates of anemia, stand to lose an additional 4 percent of their dietary iron intake.

Read the full article about the impact of climate change on health by H. Claire Brown at The New Food Economy.