Now climate change is personal


In 2004 and 2005 I watched pieces of my house peel off into the windy rain along with other bits of my comfy Space Coast neighborhood. But this, THIS, makes climate change perosnal for me!

The Register — The researchers add that the impacts won’t be confined to Ethiopia: world-wide, it will become harder to find places suitable for coffee production. “Optimum cultivation conditions are likely to become increasingly difficult to achieve in many pre-existing coffee growing areas, leading to a reduction in productivity, increased and intensified management (such as the use of irrigation) and crop failure (some areas becoming unsuitable for Arabica cultivation),” Kew states.

A world without coffee would be no world for me, it would be hell on earth.

Comments

  1. Rodney Nelson says

    Fortunately, as a tea drinker, this is not a concern of mine.

    Seriously, many crops are being adversely effected by global warming. The 2012 soybean crop was hard hit by the Midwest drought. Soybeans are second only to corn as the biggest agricultural product in the U.S. Most American soybeans are processed for vegetable oil and the leftover meal is used as animal feed, primarily for pigs and chickens. So expect to be paying more for pork and chicken in the coming year. That’s what climate change is doing right now.

  2. katkinkate says

    Personally I’m more worried about cocoa production. Although I like a mocha coffee occasionally too.

  3. pramod says

    The paper doesn’t mention robusta beans so I’m assuming they’re going to survive. As a lifelong drinker of south indian coffee who really dislikes the second-rate coffee I’m forced to put up with in other parts of the world, I’m going to say this is a good thing! :P

  4. peterh says

    “Optimum cultivation conditions are likely to become increasingly difficult to achieve in many pre-existing coffee growing areas…”
    And would these varying conditions not create suitable coffee-going soils and conditions in other areas? Juan & his donkey may have to go over to the cocaine trade, but Gustav might find profit in coffee beans?

  5. F says

    So expect to be paying more for pork and chicken in the coming year.

    This was already the case, monts ago, particularly for pork. More specifically, the point had been made about bacon.

  6. magistramarla says

    Yup, I read this one yesterday.
    Coffee drinkers, unite! We need to hold those politicians responsible and force them to do something about Global Warming now. This is important to present and future coffee drinkers of the world!

  7. Crudely Wrott says

    Then there is this:
    http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/global-coffee-production-to-be-record-in-2012-13/467302/

    Every day it becomes more important to get information from a variety of sources before drawing conclusions. Fortunately, technology provides a means to do so. Including this:
    http://dailycoffeenews.com/2012/05/31/tanzania-output-expected-to-double-in-2012-13-season/

    Of course, time alone will tell, being wrong is simply human and all estimates are subject to future modifications as new information and more accurate measurements become available.

    Now, seeing as I’ve awoke insanely early, I think I’ll brew a cup or two.

  8. Crudely Wrott says

    Er, further exploration on my part shows that the two sources I mention above are dated early this year. Later reports are less optimistic due mainly to more recent climate predictions.

    Like I said, I’ve woken insanely early and my coffee isn’t yet in my cup.

    Still, and all, the actual size of the coming year’s harvest will not be actually entered into the record until, well, next year. As we observe, conditions change.

    Please pass the French vanilla cream and the sugar bowl . . .

  9. Nick Gotts (formerly KG) says

    And would these varying conditions not create suitable coffee-going soils and conditions in other areas? – peterh

    Might I suggest reading a book on basic soil science?

  10. jamessweet says

    Nah, it won’t be a world without coffee, it will just be a world where coffee is insanely expensive. Imagine going into the Starbucks down the corner and paying five bucks for a quad venti cappuccino! Oh wait…

  11. left0ver1under says

    You know we’re a screwed up species when we are worrying about a luxury like *coffee* instead of food, clean water, the environment and overpopulation.

  12. Bill Openthalt says

    Overpopulation is more dangerous than global warming. It’s there, and its impact is measurable, not like the (postulated) link between AGW and the current weather patterns. Africa was getting dryer long before we started belching out CO2, but people could (and did) migrate when their habitat changed.

    Whichever way one looks at it, no matter what the level of resource usage, no matter the technology (unless we get off this planet and colonize new worlds), sooner or later we’ll run out of resources unless there’s a dramatic reduction in population.

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