August 24, 2014

5 Ways Climate Change Is Ruining Your Breakfast

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gymnasticks/5964882927/in/photolist-a66zT6-53VJY4-zK8wB-54TsPG-9CQ1Z-7HvSPY-4yVdmj-a1uqy1-5KJJzt-dUkpk-9sSpg-9fVu7k-6mkKqJ-956DrY-4Wqu9C-jMX6Fi-9KuKs-56WF5E-6PukDE-apx3ZW-815mjc-9UmTyj-bx3AJ3-bvXbTm-9rKZqo-5GGEZC-9nyAK9-dSQoH7-bNYnZP-nMG7zf-88zwPz-9gdYTA-9j43uZ-cwXjXN-4GLJ5c-9czj9y-9fVtSP-2GGke1-7XPBpt-dEHBXF-7gkKhX-a4S9T-iFkmZ-7XSSzY-9fRZaK-4yFTx-9fNRrW-8fwPGP-9fNGwi-a1uA5Y/">owlgray</a>/Flickr

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Welcome to the worst breakfast-related crisis since Lord of the Rings: There might be an impending Nutella shortage. And there’s a good chance the culprit is climate change.

The price of hazelnuts, a main ingredient in the delicious chocolate spread, is up 60 percent after unseasonable ice storms devastated hazel tree farms in Turkey’s Black Sea coastal region this year. And colder winters and heavier precipitation are exactly what the EU’s Centre for Climate Adaptation says the Black Sea coast should expect as climate change advances. Though Nutella’s manufacturer hasn’t raised its prices yet, it’s facing increasing strain as palm oil and cocoa get more expensive, too.

It would be bad enough if Nutella were the only food that melting ice caps and changing weather patterns are threatening to rob from the breakfast table. But no—the list of climate change’s culinary casualties goes on. Here are some other ways it’s making the most important meal of the day a little less satisfying:

  1. Rising cereal prices. Kix might be kid-tested and mother-approved, but have fun buying them in 2030, when their cost could be as much as 24 percent higher due to drought-stricken grain crops, according to an Oxfam International report. (And that doesn’t even account for inflation.) Lovers of Frosted Flakes and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes should also start stockpiling now—Oxfam predicts their respective prices will rise by 20 and 30 percent by 2030.
  2. A global bacon shortage. The aporkalypse is nigh. Even if you’re on a no-carb diet, shrinking grain supplies are bad news. Pricier corn and soybeans equals pricier pig feed, and pricier pig feed equals smaller pig herds. In 2012, Britain’s National Pig Association announced that a pork and bacon shortage “is now unavoidable.”
  3. Bland-but-costly coffee. There’s an epic drought in Brazil, the world’s largest coffee exporter. As a result, one commodities trading firm says caffeine addicts will consume 5 million more bags of beans than coffee growers can produce in the 2014-2015 season, and the price of coffee futures has already doubled to $2 a pound. To make matters worse, beans grown at higher temperatures don’t develop the blend of aromatic compounds that give coffee its distinctive flavor.
  4. Waffle woes. The nation had to collectively leggo its Eggos in November 2009, when record flooding in Atlanta stopped waffle production at the local Kellogg plant. Sure, this has happened once so far, but according to the Environmental Protection Agency, “projected sea level rise, increased hurricane intensity, and associated storm surge may lead to further erosion, flooding, and property damage in the Southeast.”

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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