Cropped

Almost six decades have passed since Rachel Carson’s seminal book, Silent Spring, triggered the modern era of environmental concern. Her poignant warnings about the impact of pesticides made many people around the world question the “wisdom” of intensive farming techniques.

Today, the same fundamental question still hangs in the air: how should we feed the billions of mouths around the planet without denuding the natural “assets” – the soil, the water, the forests – that sustain us?

But climate change now complicates matters considerably. It is sobering to consider recent research which found that one third of human-caused emissions are due to our “food systems”.

The decisions we make – from the individual consumer in the supermarket through to governments at international conferences – risk further exacerbating the crisis. Or they could help.

But where we need evidence-based clarity to guide our choices and policymaking, we are typically presented with a thick soup of competing claims, misinformation, emotion and vested interests.

Should we eat organic food? Is it best to be vegan? Could genetically modified crops better withstand climate change? What exactly are “nature-based” climate solutions?

This is why Carbon Brief is now sending out a free fortnightly email newsletter.

It provides a digest of all the key developments from the fraught, yet fascinating intersection between food systems, land use, nature and climate change.

Yes, it’s a huge, complex topic to cover. But Carbon Brief has a team of world-leading journalists – including our section editor for food, land and nature Dr Giuliana Viglione in Washington DC and land, food systems and nature specialist Aruna Chandrasekhar in Mumbai – who spend each day closely tracking mainstream media, academic journals and policy documents looking for anything that is of significance or interest. This already feeds into our Daily Briefing media digest, but now also helps to shape our fortnightly Cropped newsletter, too.

“Cropped” provides the context behind the headlines, recommended reads and interesting new studies you will have missed.

And lands in your inbox once a fortnight on Wednesday afternoons (UK time).

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