A study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows the nation's top newspapers have largely overlooked the food system as one of the more important contributors to global climate change.
The two-year study, available online in advance of publication in Public Health Nutrition, analyzed coverage by 16 of the nation's largest circulation newspapers. According to the study, the contribution to greenhouse gas emissions from food production and agriculture was mentioned in only 2.4 percent of climate change articles. In contrast, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported in 2007 that 31 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture and forestry (with much of the latter representing deforestation for food production).
The study also found that 0.5 percent of climate change articles made any mention of the greenhouse gas emissions from livestock and meat production. In 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that livestock production alone accounted for nearly 18 percent of world anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions-a greater contribution than from transportation. Top impacts of the food system on climate include cattle emissions of methane (a highly potent greenhouse gas); and loss of trapped carbon from soil and plants following land clearing for crops or pasture.
"Greater public awareness could lead to consumer demand for food with lower greenhouse gas emissions. Greater awareness could also spur action from policy makers and the food and agriculture sectors toward reducing food and agriculture-related emissions," said Roni Neff, PhD, research director for the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and principal investigator of the study. "The more we know about climate change news coverage, the more effectively we can help to ensure the important facts regarding the food systems' contribution receive the attention they deserve."
For the study, Neff and colleagues analyzed climate change coverage in 16 leading U.S. newspapers based on circulation between September 2005 and January 2008. The newspapers analyzed were: The New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Rocky Mountain News, Houston Chronicle, New York Post, Detroit Free Press, Dallas Morning News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Boston Globe, Newark Star-Ledger, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Arizona Republic, Long Island Newsday and San Francisco Chronicle. Newspapers were selected over other media because of their influence and broad readership. The combined daily circulation of the reviewed newspapers exceeded 10.5 million, with an expected readership of over 20 million.