Going to Extremes: Heat, Water Scarcity and Food

What About Water? with Jay Famiglietti

From farmer’s fields to the high arctic, from your morning cup of coffee to a glass of wine – everything we eat and drink depends on water. In the second episode of our summer mini season, we draw from our past interviews about water scarcity and its effect on our food supply.

We take a look at last year’s drought and withered crops on the Canadian prairies, and how melting permafrost in the arctic threatens traditional knowledge about food from the land for the Inuit of Iqaluit. We hear how coffee farmers in Sierra Leone are cultivating the climate-resilient "Stenophylla" species to bring it to market, and how crops like coffee beans and wine grapes are sensitive indicators of climate change -- and changes coming to these industries.

This mini-episode features the voices of Merle Massie, Reg Lowe, Aaron Davis, Daniel Sarmu, Micah Hewer and Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster. You can find their full episodes from our previous seasons here:

S3E3 (Growing Food in Dry Times: Drought in the West) featuring Merle Massie and Reg Lowe: https://www.whataboutwater.org/s03e03/

S3E10 (Good to the Last Drop? Coffee and Climate with Aaron Davis) featuring Aaron Davis and Daniel Sarmu: https://www.whataboutwater.org/s03e10/

S2E8 (Slippery Slopes: Canadian Recreation Meets Climate Change) featuring Micah Hewer: https://www.whataboutwater.org/s02e08/

S3E2 (On Thin Ice: Iqaluit's Water Crisis) featuring Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster: https://www.whataboutwater.org/s03e02/

We’d like to hear your thoughts about our show in our What About Water Listener Survey. As a thank you, we will plant a tree through One Tree Planted for each survey our podcast listeners complete.