How Trump's policies might endanger your cup of coffee

Trump&#039;s climate policies are endangering coffee

(Image credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

last updated 15 June 2017

President Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the global Paris climate agreement could lead to devastating flooding, droughts, increasingly volatile weather, and other existential threats to humanity. But it could also mark the beginning of the end of coffee, Mike Hoffmann argues at Fortune. More than 60 percent of Americans start their day with this "extraordinary beverage," notes Hoffmann, an entomology professor who heads the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions, and rising temperatures will lead not only to much higher coffee bean prices, but also potential scarcity. He elaborates:

Most coffee is grown near the equator, but increasing temperatures, new pests, droughts, and intensive rainfall are taking their toll on the crop. Coffee varieties are sensitive to even slight changes in temperature, which affect both yield and flavor. There is also a new pest, the coffee borer, which seems to enjoy the changing conditions and is spreading worldwide. Growing food is already risky, but it will only become riskier as climate change impacts intensify. If we persist on our current trajectory, the potential for temperatures to increase in the next few decades could reduce the global area suitable for production of coffee by as much as half by 2050. The impact will be enormous, particularly for the 25 million small land-holder farmers who grow coffee in more than 70 countries. [Hoffmann, Fortune]

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.