This post originally appeared on The Hill.

By Former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD)

There is growing consensus that the two issues that will define the lives of future generations are climate change and food security. At this week’s United Nations Climate Summit 2014: Catalyzing Action, world leaders will address both of these challenges and the solutions necessary to minimize their impact on the globe.

The two are increasingly more intertwined and more pressing with each passing year. Climate change has long led to tension-filled debates focused on the “who” and the “why,” distracting us from the problem itself and the solutions necessary to address it.

But new studies and reports, highlighting the effect of climate change on food and nutrition security in the coming decades, are driving a different, less politicized dialogue around this important issue — a step that is critical to embracing the innovation necessary to mitigate its impact.

In a sense, while most of us were not looking, we created the perfect storm — no pun intended. How else do you explain having to feed more than 9 billion people by the middle of the century, while our increasingly volatile weather threatens the food and agriculture that we must rely on to accomplish that goal?

Read the full story via The Hill >