LAUREN:
WE START OUR DAY EACH MORNING
WITH YOU AT HOME AND A CUP OF
JOE
JOE:
I LIKE MY COFFEE BLACK, ELISA
LIKES HERS ICED WITH MILK
BUT IMAGINE NOT STARTING YOUR
DAY WITH IT AT ALL?
LAUREN
A NEW STUDY SHOWS COFFEE FARMERS
COULD LOSE HALF OF THEIR
SUITABLE LAND DUE TO
WARMING TEMPERATURES AND EXTREME
WEATHER...
ELISA STOPPED AT A LOCAL COFFEE
SHOP TO FIND OUT WHY.
"Over half of Americans drink
WITHOUT IT!
BUT A NEW STUDY SHOWS THAT COULD
BE A NEW
REALITY...
AS TEMPERATURES WARM AND HEAVY
RAIN AND
DROUGHT BECOME MORE EXTREME DUE
TO CLIMATE CHANGE, THE COFFEE
CROP IS AT RISK.
IN FACT, EVEN IF WE MAKE
DRAMATIC CUTS TO OUR
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, THAT
2015 STUDY FOUND IN THE CLIMATIC
60%.
Nate Murphy: "Whenever there's
big weather changes, it's going
to affect it" NATE MURPHY IS
GENERAL MANAGER AND LEAD ROASTER
AT COFFEE ETHIC IN SPRINGFIELD.
HE
WITNESSED FIRST HAND HOW EXTREME
WEATHER IMPACTS COFFEE FARMERS
IN BRAZIL
"They had some coffees drying
out on patios and they had an
unexpected rainfall come in so
all that coffee got ruined
because it ended up fermenting"
HIGH HEAT AND HEAVY RAIN CAN
CENTRAL AMERICA.
VIETNAM .
""it likes elevation...that
little bit cooler climate that
comes with
being up in the mountains" BUT
AS TEMPERATURES WARM, THE BEANS
ARE FINDING FEWER PLACES TO CALL
HOME, AND THE PESTS AND BUGS ARE
MOVING IN
"You can get pretty deep and
scientific but at the end of the
day they're losing crop and the
less crop they have they can't
make up for those lower
prices...they need that volume
to
make a living" NATE
"If we don't support them and
buy the coffee from them, they
can't sustain their farms"
MICHELLE BILLIONIS IS THE OWNER
AND OPERATOR OF
COFFEE ETHIC, "our slogan is
'cup, people, earth' and so
caring for the earth is a huge
part of our philosophy and
mission"
EVEN ON A SMALL, LOCAL LEVEL,
HER COMPANY
WORKS CLOSELY WITH THESE FARMERS
TO DO THEIR PART IN COMBATING
THESE CHALLENGES.
MICHELLE HAS MADE IT A POINT TO
BE GREEN AND
EARTH-FRIENDLY WITHIN HER SHOP
"we used recycled aluminmum for
the bar, the infrastucture of
the bar...these
chairs are recycled chairs,
they're not brand new"....
IN HER PRODUCTS..."all of our
clear cups are corn-based cups
and so they will dissolve over
time"
BEYOND TO THE FARMER "maybe we
can help them get
the equipment and be prepared
for those changes"
AND EVERYONE IN BETWEEN "it's
caring for your community,
being involved in campaigns or
whatnot that will educate
people"
FOR MICHELLE AND NATE, "we are
seeing the results of
climate change" IT'S BEEN A
MORNING BREW TYPE OF WAKE-UP
CALL "I am worried about it, I'm
worried about how
it's going to affect the taste
of the cup" BUT THEY'RE BOTH
OPTIMISTIC "there's a lot of
organizations trying to take
steps to figure out if there are
certain coffee varieties that
resist rust, are there certain
coffee varieties that can grow
at
a lower elevation"
NATS
A SOLUTION THE INDUSTRY WILL TRY
TO GRIND OUT
AND SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT YOU
CAN BREW
ON...THE NEXT TIME YOU SIP YOUR
CUP OF JOE
ELISA
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COFFEE
BEANS THEY ARE STUDYING CLOSELY
--- ARABICA IS THE MORE
COMMON BEAN, BUT IT IS WEAK IN
COMBATING THESE CLIMATE
CHALLENGES....
THE ROBUSTA BEAN CAN ADAPT TO
CHANGES BETTER, BUT IT DOESN'T
TASTE AS GOOD IN YOUR
CUP
RESEARCHERS ARE TRYING TO FIND
THE BEST OF BOTH -- A STRONG
BEAN AND GOOD TASTING BREW