Currently in Toronto — August 31st, 2022
The weather, currently.
Cooler and drier air is coming. The slow-moving front that delivered the rain showers and isolated thunderstorms today will continue to push east, setting up a pleasant start to the last day of August. Expect mainly sunny skies Wednesday morning with a wake-up temperature near 17°C. There is a weaker secondary front that will slide through the region tomorrow. It will generate some clouds and possibly isolated showers (mainly north of the city). Overall variable skies and less humid tomorrow. The high is 25°C, feeling like 28°C. It will be windy, too, with westerly gusts 25-50km/h and the UV index will be 6 or high.
Wednesday night: mainly clear and very comfortable with a low of 13°C.
What you need to know, currently.
If you’ve never eaten a breadfruit, now is the perfect time!
According to reporting by Smithsonian magazine, the fruit could play a role in addressing global hunger as well as food security adaptation amid global warming and climate change.
Breadfruit is very versatile, as it can be dried and ground into flour –– its trees provide abundant shade for humans and wildlife alike, and it’s been used to treat various skin ailments. The perennial custard-y fruit is also very rich in nutrients and requires less labor, water and fertilizer than annual crops.
“I really think it has a lot of potential to help people, especially in the tropics, where 80 percent of the world’s hungry live,” Diane Ragone, founder of the Breadfruit Institute, told Smithsonian magazine in 2009. “It’s low-labor and low-input; much easier to grow than things like rice and corn. And because it’s a tree, the environmental benefits are huge compared to a field crop.”
Past research has found that yields of staple crops like corn, wheat and rice may decline due to climate change, particularly in areas close to the equator. The breadfruit, on the other hand, is more resilient to rising temperatures. In conjunction with other food security adaptations and solutions, this tropical fruit could make a real difference.
—Aarohi Sheth
