Climate change could affect your breakfast
By Lori Popkewitz Alper, Huffington Post
The impacts of climate change can be felt throughout the world. We’re witnessing firsthand hotter summers, extreme weather, droughts and severe wildfires, making the climate crisis something that’s impossible to ignore. Over the past century, the earth’s average temperature has risen by 1.4 degrees and is projected to rise another 2 degrees to 11.5 degrees over the next hundred years. Although those numbers may seem relatively small at first glance, changes in temperature can impact our lives in a big way.
Take for example breakfast, the meal many consider the most important meal of the day. Breakfast could be hit hard by climate change. Our traditional breakfast foods could look very different in years to come if we don’t fight hard to protect our planet.
It’s no surprise that over 54 percent of Americans over the age of 18 drink coffee everyday. A freshly brewed morning cup o’ joe is a daily ritual for many, and a simple way to kick start the day. We’re now even being told that a morning cup of coffee is healthy. That cup of coffee could look very different in a few years if climate change continues on its current path.
Coffee growing regions around the world are temperature dependent and any slight change in average temperature can easily threaten the quality of the coffee we’re drinking, as well as the amount produced.
One of the largest problems coffee crops are facing is a fungus known as coffee rust. Coffee rust infects the coffee tree leaves and essentially make it impossible for the coffee plants to survive. The disease is rapidly wiping out crops and causing financial hardships for the coffee growers.