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Big Facts is a resource of the most up-to-date and robust facts relevant to the nexus of climate change, agriculture and food security. It is intended to provide a credible and reliable platform for fact checking amid the range of claims that appear in reports, advocacy materials and other sources. Full sources are supplied for all facts and figures and all content has gone through a process of peer review. Big Facts is also an open-access resource. We encourage everyone to download, use and share the facts and graphic images. We believe that by sharing knowledge we can aid the type of interdisciplinary understanding and collaboration necessary for meeting the challenges posed to agriculture and food security in the face of climate change.

"For the past three years it's been an occasional pleasure and a frequent privilege to work with the academics who contribute to The Conversation's Environment & Energy section. It's not just the soil jokes and the hilarious profile pictures: it's the opportunity to see a whole bunch of actual evidence about environmental issues. Academic writing is replete with facts. Facts aren't just awesome because they help you win trivia; they can also be the foundation of evidence-based policy. Karl-Ludwig G. Poggemann Click to enlarge Here are some facts I've learned in 2013."

The Clean Energy Regulator is an independent statutory authority established by the Clean Energy Regulator Act 2011. The Clean Energy Regulator does not sit within a Government Department although it is an agency within the Climate Change Portfolio

"In the latest episode of Veritasium, Derek hits the streets to see if Sydneysiders are as tired of hearing the statistics as he is, and the results were a little surprising. Not only do most of the people he polled not know the facts, many don't actually believe climate change is happening (despite the fact that 97 to 98 percent of the scientific community now agree that it is). "

"With huge tracts of land, sunshine and plentiful water across the northern states and territories, there are high hopes for Australia's post-mining future pinned on its ability to produce enough agricultural product to feed Asia's rapidly growing population. Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce wants to temper those expectations."

"It will come as no surprise to hear that only a tiny fraction - less than 1 percent - of cars driving along American roads are fully electric. What might be more surprising is the fact that this wasn't always the case. In 1900, 34 percent of cars in New York, Boston and Chicago were powered by electric motors. Nearly half had steam engines. What happened? Why do we end up embracing one technology while another, better one struggles or fails?"

Green has become the common term for people who care about the environment or for practices promoted as better for the environment than some other practices. When used for marketing, "green" can become downright misleading. In fact, there's a term "greenwashing" to describe advertising that makes something look greener than it really is. Sustainable, on the other hand, refers to practices designed to have the least impact on the environment, create the least waste, and capable of being carried out indefinitely. That is, something sustainable can't waste resources, can't pollute, can't be dangerous over the long term to life, can't cost so much that it causes social or financial disruption, etc.

"A NASA science team has observed "amazing and potentially troubling" levels of methane and CO2 from the rapidly warming Arctic. Given the staggering amount of carbon trapped in the permafrost - and the fact that methane is a very potent heat-trapping gas - the space agency is now asking: "Is a Sleeping Climate Giant Stirring in the Arctic?""

Today, we produce about four billion metric tonnes of food per annum. Yet due to poor practices in harvesting, storage and transportation, as well as market and consumer wastage, it is estimated that 30-50% (or 1.2-2 billion tonnes) of all food produced never reaches a human stomach. Furthermore, this figure does not reflect the fact that large amounts of land, energy, fertilisers and water have also been lost in the production of foodstuffs which simply end up as waste. This level of wastage is a tragedy that cannot continue if we are to succeed in the challenge of sustainably meeting our future food demands.

"The Climate Reality Project, the organization Al Gore founded, released its latest Internet activism tool Thursday, Reality Drop. The new site is a gamified experience that rewards users for "dropping" facts about climate change into different online forums and comment fields on hot articles."

"The Face of Climate Change - Climate change can seem like a remote problem for our leaders, but the fact is that it's already impacting real people, animals, and beloved places. These Faces of Climate Change are multiplying every day. Fortunately, other Faces of Climate Change are multiplying too: those stepping up to do something about it. Help us personalize the massive challenge climate change presents by taking a photo and telling your story. How has climate change impacted you? What are you doing to be part of the solution?"

"A brutal and potentially historic heat wave is in store for the West as parts of Nevada, Arizona and California may get dangerously hot temperatures starting Thursday and lasting through next week. In fact, by the end of the heat wave, we may see a record tied or broken for the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth."

"Most business people who struggle to get their brains around long-term sustainability find it easier to grasp if they think about their children or grandchildren. Indeed, several CEOs I have worked with have pointed to their children as a key reason why they switched on to the agenda, one or two because they were beaten up (verbally, they say) at the family breakfast table. But the capitalist system thinks otherwise. In fact my title is a direct quote from a hard-hitting quarterly investor letter released a few days ago by financial analyst Jeremy Grantham. His message is that if we proceed on current capitalist lines, "the planet's goose is cooked.""

"When I was little, my mom made everything fresh. We picked fruits in the summer, and she grew so many of her own vegetables. I knew, secondhand, that pasta sauce also came out of a jar, but I had no idea why you'd want to eat it. When I was about nine, I insisted that I wanted to eat Chef Boyardee Spaghetti-Os because my friends always got to eat them. I longed for this particular forbidden fruit, without really having any reason to want it besides the fact that other kids got to eat it. Eventually, my mother agreed, but I couldn't even manage to choke down the Spaghetti-Os I had longed for - I thought they were so gross! The handy infographic below takes a look at how important it is to educate kids about food choices and eating healthy. So many kids don't know that real food doesn't come out of a box. Keep reading to learn more."

"The biggest impediment to climate action these days is not because of the human frailties that science is hell-bent on resisting - those alleged failings of opinion, belief and emotion. Ironically, it's exactly because we are still trying to suppress them that we are now stalled."

"We grow enough food to feed every single person on the planet, yet millions of people go to bed hungry. Discover the startling facts about global food waste and what we can do to solve this problem. "

"Abbott's latest remarks on carbon pricing betray the fact that his views on climate change are inspired from the depths of the climate denier blogosphere"

"President Obama believes we have a moral obligation to lead the fight against carbon pollution. Share the details of his plan to help make sure people in your community get the facts:"

"Floating offshore wind turbines could more than meet the electricity demands of the European Union, according to a new report (PDF) from the European Wind Energy Association, first reported by Business Green. In fact, offshore wind turbines could potentially supply over four times the electricity needs of the EU."

"There's currently a very big difference between what the major parties contesting the election are planning to do for our environment. And hopefully there are still plenty of big announcements to come over the course of the election campaign! But if you want to be spared all the somersaults and politicking and just get the facts when they matter, sign up to Envirotracker below for an election-eve update on what the major parties are promising for our environment."