Out of the Hot Zone

The effects of the climate crisis are far-reaching and disastrous: from unliveable conditions and resource scarcity, to economic collapse, political unrest, and war. Over the course of the next 50 years, between one and three billion people will be left outside climate conditions that have best served humanity for 6,000 years. We will be living in ‘hot zones’ and forced to dramatically rethink the way we live on this planet. But it’s not all bad news. Already, leading thinkers in history, agriculture and tech are coming up with imaginative and resourceful methods to protect our precious food resources, increase food sovereignty and reclaim agency within the food system. Traditional landowners are revitalising land management practices, diasporic communities are sharing knowledge with the next generation, and others are working to resist the major corporations who bear no consequences of their role in perpetuating the crisis. Assistant Professor Esther Ngumbi – an expert on entomology and food security; Mark Bittman, author of Animal, Vegetable, Junk, and Bruce Pascoe, author of Dark Emu, talk to chair Dr Paul Behrens about how we can use sustainable food practices to reclaim our future.

This event was filmed live at the 2021 Edinburgh International Book Festival and all participants took part remotely.