The galvanizing event

Don Enss

So what could that one galvanizing event be. We discussed last week before Fall break what it would take for a strong social movement to move to address climate change.  I heard on the radio yesterday something that if it becomes as serious as it sounds like it will can impact a lot of people around the world.

Just imagine what would happen if all of the Americans who drink coffee, approximately 83% suddenly had to pay double or triple what they are now paying and still might not be able to find any. Talk about a nation on edge, but we may be close to seeing that and imagine the economic impact and all of the related support industries that would be affected including Starbucks.

Coffee and Climate: What’s Brewing with Climate Change?

Climate change is threatening coffee crops in virtually every major coffee producing region of the world.

Higher temperatures, long droughts punctuated by intense rainfall, more resilient pests and plant diseases—all of which are associated with climate change—have reduced coffee supplies dramatically in recent years.

Dramatic declines

Because coffee varieties have adapted to specific climate zones, a temperature rise of even half a degree can make a big difference. A long-term increase in the number of extreme and unseasonal rainfall events has contributed to lower crop yields that are threatening the livelihood of coffee growers. For example, between 2002 and 2011, Indian coffee production declined by nearly 30 percent.

Additionally, warming has expanded the habitat and thus the range and damage of the coffee berry borer, a grazing predator of coffee plants. This pest is placing additional stresses on all coffee crops, as is coffee rust, a devastating fungus that previously did not survive the cool mountain weather. Costa Rica, India, andEthiopia, three of the top fifteen coffee-producing nations in the world, have all seen a dramatic decline in yields.