While skeptics continue to doubt scientists' warnings on the urgency of global warming, for millions of people, it seems that doomsday has already arrived. In the last two years, prices of basic foodstuffs have soared to ominous levels, with wheat prices rising by 130% in the last year alone. In the US, the poor have already felt the pinch. In some countries, skyrocketing food prices have led to widespread unrest. Food riots have been reported in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Latin America. The World Bank recently warned that 33 nations are now at risk of social unrest because of rising food prices. Violent food protests have already taken place in developed economies, such as Italy. People believe that the first wave of global warming disasters will come sometime in the distant future from rising sea levels. It is now clear that long before rising sea levels make their inevitable catastrophic impact, we will be faced with serious problems with our food supply. Food crises and the social unrest that follows represent the first wave of global warming disasters. The United Nations has even called this a "Silent Tsunami." Poor countries, with little greenhouse gas emissions, will suffer first and the most because they are the least able to adapt. But, we who live in developed countries are not immune. With the planet warming at a much faster pace than previously predicted, even scientists can't predict when or what will be next. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, a combination of factors have led to this urgent threat: damage to agricultural production caused by climate change, increased meat consumption (diverting food crops to feed livestock), the production of biofuels, and rising energy costs. While politicians continue to argue the issues, there is something that every one of us can do right now to prevent the food crisis from worsening and to curb climate change at the same time. It is so simple, and so obvious. Just stop eating meat! The 2006 United Nations report "Livestock's Long Shadow" points out that meat consumption generates 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, more than all forms of transportation combined. One third of grain production worldwide is used to feed livestock instead of humans. This just doesn't make sense. It takes about 700 calories' worth of grain to produce a 100 calorie piece of beef. Forgoing meat can help feed a lot more starving people than you think. As for greenhouse gas emissions, reducing meat consumption by just 20 percent would be the equivalent of switching from a Camry to a Prius. Going vegan for a year would save 1.5 tons of greenhouse emissions. All of humanity is connected. Our lifestyle affects the well-being of people in faraway countries, and vice versa. Going meatless is the most effective thing that each one of us can do to help rein in the food crisis and global warming. It's time for us to rise up with our knives and forks. With simple changes in our food choices, we just might be able to eat our way out of the doomsday scenario.