Hello again! It has been 6 months since my last post here and I have decided that it is time for me to return. What have I been up to in the last 6 months you ask? Since April: I managed to get through my last exam period in UCL, spent an amazing summer travelling and enjoying myself, started a new job in London, graduated from UCL Class of 2014 and found a new home in East London. After some big changes in my life I felt like it was time to come back to The Big Hungry Planet to catch up on the last 6 months and look forward to the next. This blog started off as a piece of coursework supporting my studies in UCL in one the geography modules: Global Environmental Change. When I first learnt that one of my chosen 3rd year modules has a blog as a gradable coursework, I was a little dubious. I had grown used to our traditional ways of assessment through essays, problem sets and written examinations. But soon after starting my discussions in The Big Hungry Planet, I became inspired and passionate about my chosen topic and found myself looking forward to researching and writing my weekly posts. This sparked a real interest and even though I have been away for 6 months now, I never forgot this space here. In the spirit of my return, I think the best way to revive and refresh this place is to turn to a topic that is very close to many of our hearts and morning routines: coffee. In the process of warming the planet and polluting our resources, it is coffee production that might be at risk with advancing climate change. In short, us coffee lovers, we are shooting ourselves in the foot.
The historical home of coffee of the most delicious coffee beans, Ethiopia, is already facing a change in its climate with more extreme weather events and dramatic shifts in precipitation balance. Even though there are more than 120 varieties of coffee beans, only 2 of them are used to make the black golden drink so many of us love. This low genetic variety, with increased pressure from climate change, make these species extremely vulnerable to pests and infections. Without powerful pesticides (and we know how unfortunate these are to the health of the climate from previous discussions) that may jepordise the quality and taste of the beans, we may need to find ourselves a new morning ritual. In addition to being an essential kick-starter to our day, the coffee industry employs about 25 million people worldwide, mainly in the tropics, making it essential for the livelihoods around the world. Here is a short clip about the future of coffee: 'A study conducted by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in collaboration with scientists in Ethiopia, reports that climate change alone could lead to the extinction of wild Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) well before the end of this century...'
