Do you enjoy the freedom of getting water from your home tap? Do you love biting into the perfect looking bite on your dinner plate? Do you value having the world’s news at your fingertips? So do I, and that is why it is vitally important to understand how water, food and energy dramatically impact climate change. Not only do water, food and energy interact with climate independently, they each interact with the other causing a web of permanent networking. This interconnectedness will only intensify as our world population grows and technology advances, so we must act now while some adaptation mechanisms are still viable. Unfortunately, some people do not believe climate change is real. But one thing that nobody should deny is that climate change’s negative impacts are magnified on low-income populations.

Climate change does not treat us all equally; It impacts communities differently based on geographical location, socioeconomic status, and available resources. This paper uses American cities as case studies to investigate how the urban environment and its people have less adaptive capacity to climate change than more affluent communities. Lastly, a wholistic approach, considering water, food, and energy issues in one realm, is used to identify personal and policy driven steps to slow to progression of climate change.

Crystal Bell would like to thank her faculty sponsor Olga Arbelaez for their support on this project.