- Sep 16, 2012
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“Your typical morning cup of coffee is a social and environmental disaster—but you’ll soon have the option to start sipping something less harmful: synthetic coffee…
The intense demand for coffee has driven mass deforestation, poverty wages for farmers who see little of the rising prices for their commodity, and substantial carbon emissions due to both production and long supply chains. Research suggests that around half of the land best suited to growing coffee will become unsuitable for that purpose by 2050, thanks to climate change. In Brazil, that figure reaches 88%.….
If these companies reach enough people, it will be a classic case of what economists and climate capitalists call the substitution effect: As traditional coffee becomes scarce, and more expensive, consumers will switch to these cheaper and plentiful alterna-brews.
And coffee is just be the beginning. Already, Voyage Foods sells a nut-free, cocoa-free Nutella alternative nationwide at Walmart. The company says its spread is comparable in price to “real” Nutella, and is also the lowest-cost allergen-free spread available at the big-box chain…
Since we’re messing with the life-support system on planet Earth by filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, it makes sense that someday we might produce more of our food the way NASA has proposed growing food for space stations and moon bases.
Bioreactors—basically, big steel vessels—have been used for decades to manufacture pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food additives. Any plant cell can be run through a process that makes it possible for it to grow in a bioreactor, subsisting on nothing but sugars,…”
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So says the WSJ. It really doesn’t matter whether you deny the science of climate change because the real world effects are occurring whether you like it or not. Companies are preparing for the day when arable land becomes less productive. If we (by we I mean the world not just the US) had started years ago to earnestly battle the effects of climate change we would not be in this situation. This is the inevitable outcome of climate change and environmental degradation. Though I guess synthetic food is better than none at all.
The intense demand for coffee has driven mass deforestation, poverty wages for farmers who see little of the rising prices for their commodity, and substantial carbon emissions due to both production and long supply chains. Research suggests that around half of the land best suited to growing coffee will become unsuitable for that purpose by 2050, thanks to climate change. In Brazil, that figure reaches 88%.….
If these companies reach enough people, it will be a classic case of what economists and climate capitalists call the substitution effect: As traditional coffee becomes scarce, and more expensive, consumers will switch to these cheaper and plentiful alterna-brews.
And coffee is just be the beginning. Already, Voyage Foods sells a nut-free, cocoa-free Nutella alternative nationwide at Walmart. The company says its spread is comparable in price to “real” Nutella, and is also the lowest-cost allergen-free spread available at the big-box chain…
Since we’re messing with the life-support system on planet Earth by filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, it makes sense that someday we might produce more of our food the way NASA has proposed growing food for space stations and moon bases.
Bioreactors—basically, big steel vessels—have been used for decades to manufacture pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food additives. Any plant cell can be run through a process that makes it possible for it to grow in a bioreactor, subsisting on nothing but sugars,…”
***********************************
So says the WSJ. It really doesn’t matter whether you deny the science of climate change because the real world effects are occurring whether you like it or not. Companies are preparing for the day when arable land becomes less productive. If we (by we I mean the world not just the US) had started years ago to earnestly battle the effects of climate change we would not be in this situation. This is the inevitable outcome of climate change and environmental degradation. Though I guess synthetic food is better than none at all.
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