In a world increasingly shaped by the challenges of climate change, our agricultural systems face a threat that undermines food production worldwide. As the core of our diet relies heavily on plants, the increasing demand for higher yields to feed a growing population has never been more critical. Yet, this demand collides with the harsh reality of climate change: rising temperatures and heat waves, long droughts or heavy rainfalls and floods make our naturally stress-sensitive crops even more vulnerable.

Across the seafloor of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, scientists have discovered unusual pits. Similar depressions have been found around the world, caused by fluids escaping from sediments or salt dissolving in rocks below the seabed. However, during 40 years of drilling into the tropical Pacific Ocean’s seafloor, no one has found pressurized fluids to explain how these pits formed. Another mechanism for the creation of seafloor depressions is the flow of hot, hydrothermal fluids circulating in the upper crustal rocks.

For coastal communities, one of the most worrying effects of climate warming is rising sea levels. Even if we halt all greenhouse gas emissions today, the oceans are predicted to rise by more than half a metre by the end of the century, threatening coastal cities, including Manhattan, Vancouver, Lagos, Shanghai and Tokyo. In addition to displacing millions of humans, rising seas will alter natural coastal environments and ecosystems.

Livestock production has a significant impact on the environment, through land use and greenhouse gas emissions. As such, minimising environmental impacts while also fulfilling the dietary needs of a growing global population must be a priority for agriculture. However, directly comparing the carbon footprints of different livestock is challenging, mainly due to differences in their products. James Dyer and Raymond Desjardins from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada set out to explore ways to compare the carbon footprints of animal products.