Coffee Growers Feel The Pinch From Global Warming

Earth's Rising Temperatures & Lack of Biodiversity Make Coffee Scarcer

When it comes to global warming, it seems that nothing is safe. Not even your favorite cup of coffee.

The rise of deforestation, global climate change, and greenhouse gases combined threaten to wipe out or severely impact species of coffee plants around the world.

While millions continue to buy espresso machines for home use, the coffee beans which bring espresso coffee to life are struggling to survive.

What Is Global Warming?

The Simple Answer: Global warming is a gradual rise in temperatures around the world, brought on by dependence on non-renewable resources like gas, oil, and coal. As these energy sources burn, they release carbon dioxide and other harmful gases.

With these gases remaining trapped in the atmosphere, the earth’s temperature has risen as much as six degrees Celsius since 1991, according to researchers at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. This has caused insatiable drought in some parts of the world and unforgiving flooding in others.

The world’s forests have traditionally helped ease this struggle through the absorption of carbon dioxide by trees, but deforestation has weakened this system of renewal. The World Resource Institute has reported that 80% of our natural forests have been destroyed by human development.

Scientists say the problem is that people tend to think of global warming as someone else’s problem or as something that is far off in the future that the current generation doesn’t have to worry about now. At least, that’s what coffee farmers in India thought until they found themselves dealing with El Nino’s devastating effects on their coffee crops.

Bad For The Soil, Bad For The Coffee

Shade-grown Indian coffees have been among the first coffee plants affected by global warming. These coffees existed in a biodiverse region filled with rare herbs and other flora that helped to enrich the soil found in the Western Ghat Reserve. As climate change crept in, the area’s plants began to die out, robbing the coffee plants of the rich soil they’d grown in for centuries. This coffee growing area is now one of 18 global hotspots where industries are taking steps to reverse the impact of climate change

On the other side of the world, Brazil, responsible for 35% of the world’s coffee production, is working to slow the dramatic changes that global warming has brought to its coffee plants. A joint study by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation and the University of Campinas concluded that a temperature increase of as little as 5.8 degrees Celsius will “decrease the suitability for grain production drastically.”

What We Can Do About Global Warming

As communities and corporations open their eyes to the destruction from global warming, they are beginning to use renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. With these changes, and the addition of new plants and forest areas, scientists hope that the earth will begin to repair itself. For countries that depend on coffee as a major export, these changes can’t come soon enough.

Buying the best beans or espresso machine, is good, but won't do much to help the world’s coffee supply continue. Saving the coffee plants themselves will help. Just as in other areas of life, making simple changes to reduce our environmental impact will help the coffee plants thrive, and the rest of the world breathe a little easier.

Article courtesy of The Coffee Couple. Join the Coffee Couple's Coffee News Ezine today and get your own free audio report about espresso

SV Note: As we keep saying, wide spread adoption of a more plant based diet will have a significant impact on global warming, by reducing the production of methane gas from animal agriculture, and more. 'Plant based diet' includes coffee beans, of course. Just make sure it's organic, fair trade coffee!

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