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Amanda Little, author of The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World has stated in her new book that the biggest impact we will see from climate change in the coming years is actually a change to what we eat every day.
Drought, flooding, and scorching heat will all be to blame for our interruption of what we consider ‘normal’ foods in our everyday lives.
Little points out that more than half of the fruit consumed in the US is imported, as well as a significant amount of both chocolate and coffee. All of our favorite foods may soon be impacted.
We are already seeing the effects of this, Little says. Many farmers in the Midwest this season are opting not to plant at all because of flooding in their fields and continued rain.
Coffee farmers are seeing the fickle plant not respond as well to temperatures heating up, causing small single-origin coffee farmers to close shop. Italy recently had an olive oil shortage due to changing weather causing plants to not produce as expected.
We as a society could be entering a time where coffee, chocolate, olive oil, and other of our favorite foods are simply not readily available.
