Amy Scott

What the experts that I talked to are really worried about is

What happens in low-income countries?

And one of the solutions, the potential solutions, is these fortification programs.

A lot of countries already have them where they will add nutrients to flour or rice.

But

There are something like 2 billion people around the world who already suffer health problems, whether that's anemia from lack of iron or immune system problems from lack of zinc.

So if these fortification programs aren't solving the problem that already exists, the experts were kind of dubious that they would be able to compensate for the problem that's going to get even bigger as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases.

And the obvious solution is to stop emitting carbon dioxide, right?

But we are so off track on those goals.

And it's interesting, you actually mentioned this in the story, that opponents of climate action often like to say, well, more carbon is good for plants.

It increases growth.

But this evidence sort of gives lie to that argument, right?

Yeah, I think it's a lot more complicated than just saying plants need carbon to grow, therefore carbon is good.

The other reality is that climate change, which is caused by carbon dioxide pollution, is also making it harder to grow our food.

There's wildfires and floods and extreme heat and drought.

All of these things are critically depleting yields.

And you get not just a decrease in the quality of crops, but also...

probably a decrease in quantity.

And both of those things are huge problems that really are addressed by reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Sarah Kaplan is a climate reporter for The Washington Post where she wrote about the invisible force making our food less nutritious.