Wake up and smell the coffee!

There’s no doubt that climate change is having a significant impact on people’s lives already. Examples from just the last few days include flooding in the Democratic Republic of Congo, record temperatures in Vietnam and Laos, and wildfires in western Canada.

For some reason though, these events never seem to resonate with those not directly affected. Perhaps one way for the climate crisis to gain traction with people is to explain the ways it may directly affect their lives. One such example comes from a recent study by charity Christian Aid.

They have found that even if we manage to keep global warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5-2 degrees Celsius, by 2100 there will be 54% less land available for coffee production. A combination of rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, disease, droughts and landslides are making it harder to produce coffee.

According to Nescafe, the ten largest coffee-producing countries are Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, Honduras, Ethiopia, Peru, India, Guatemala and Uganda. Coffee growers there and in other countries face devastation if these trends continue.

Consumers also face increased prices if coffee production drops. With 98 million cups of coffee drunk in the UK alone each day, that’s a lot of potentially disaffected customers.

Let’s be clear, of all the consequences of climate change this is not the most serious and our concern should first be for those most affected. But as a coffee lover this is yet another compelling reason to take action on climate change - that flat white is already expensive enough!