August
31, 2015
Greetings
from the bean counter,
I
like to think I am a well-informed adult.
It’s probably not true, but I like to think it. I will say that I listen to NPR because the
voices sound so serious they must be saying something important.
But
to be honest, I tend to zone out when it comes to Global Warming, capitalized
here to emphasize the distinction from regular global warming which no one believes
in.
I
have a pretty good grasp of what’s going on, but for a variety of reasons, all
of which fall under the short-sighted/selfish/nationalistic category, I don’t
think about it much. There is methane,
and ozone layer and something about rain forests, and for some reason it’s
making winters harder in Michigan, but it’s still called ‘warming’.
Sure,
I can imagine how difficult it would be if the sea level rises and some faraway
island country might get submerged, which would be very inconvenient for a
bunch of people I don’t know. And then
there are all of those glaciers which are either melting or not melting. I forget what that was about. I read National Geographic, but just for the
pictures.
I’ve
taken a ‘hands off’ approach to this problem, sort of like looking at a toilet
paper roll that is just about empty. Described
best as ‘I hope someone can fix this before it matters to me’.
All
of that changed with two little words.
Coffee.
Before
I go any further, you should know that I have very strong feelings about
coffee. Coffee is very important to me;
I divide my life into ‘Sleep’ and ‘Coffee’.
If there was a Coffee Party in the U.S. I would be voting for whoever
they nominated. Even Juan Valdez, who
may be slightly under-documented.
I
love coffee. The aroma, the feel of the
cup in my hand, the steam rising from the dark liquid, the first sip; nutty,
rich, life giving. If you think this
seems a little intense for a mere beverage, you are probably a tea drinker. Anyway, my passion for coffee has now driven
me to pay attention to world events, so in yet another way it has made me a
better person.
I
have been subtly impacted by the eco/social/political influences involved with
coffee.
I
go along with free range, fair trade, shade grown, GMO free, handpicked,
responsibly packaged coffee beans. Sure,
I say, I’ll have a cup of that organically grown Arabica, just as long as it’s
fresh and hot and in my hand before I feel the need to check my phone for
email.
This
week I was flipping past some complicated looking graph in a magazine and
stopped when I saw the word ‘Coffee’, capitalized here because it could be a
religion. The pictures in the graph
showed that coffee is the second largest commodity traded in the world, right
behind oil. Fifty two million pounds of
coffee are consumed every day. 100
million people are dependent on the coffee industry. All of that is just window dressing to give the
story some body on which to hang the main message. Global Warming may affect the production of
coffee. My coffee.
Something
something…climate change…something something…rust on the leaves…something..Central
America..something something.. fifty percent reduction in area suitable for
growing coffee by 2050.
You
don’t have to be a genius to read between the lines and see the importance of
that message. It means there could come
a day when I can’t have coffee. Yes, it
appears it is some distant date, maybe when I am nearly 100, but trust me, if
there is still coffee around I will still be alive.
No
coffee, or worse, bad coffee, because of Global Warming? We have to DO something!
Humans
were made to drink coffee; why else would our digestive system work the way it
does, transforming this magic elixir into instant energy, creativity,
productivity and attractiveness?
Whatever your beliefs you must see that we were created to be in
partnership with coffee. If Global
Warming, or as it will now be known, Coffee Climate Change, is impacting the
critical connection between man and bean, we have to act.
We
are stewards of this planet, all of us.
We should all understand how important it is to preserve the beauty and
richness of our environment. We have to
start today to change our behavior so that the future of our planet is
ensured.
Ride
your bike. Walk to the store and bring
your own bags. Stop using air conditioning and flying in planes. Recycle. Do
whatever you can to reduce your carbon footprint. We have to do it for the billions of people
we share this caffeinated space with.
For the generations of our children who deserve a chance at a well-made cappuccino. Do it for the animals and plants that could
be saved from extinction. Do it for the
future of our planet and for the future of humanity.
But
above all, do it for me. I need my
coffee. If I can’t have coffee, no one
will be happy. And you want to be happy,
right? So really this is for you,
too.
Hope
this finds you brewing,
David
Copyright
© 2015 David Smith
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