I’ve got some bad news to bring to light. Some of your most beloved foods may not be around for much longer. Climate change is not only making animals extinct, but it hugely impacts agriculture as well.
Savor and appreciate these foods while you still can, because they may become extinct during your lifetime.
Avocados
There’s a reason you pay extra for guac, it’s because avocados are becoming more and more endangered. The majority of avocados consumed in the United States come from California, where a major drought is only just ending.
Avocados need about 9 gallons of water per ounce. This is nothing compared to the amount of water needed to produce some other foods, but the cost of this trendy fruit is only increasing with time.
Chickpeas
Avocados aren’t the only food that depends on lots of water to grow. Chickpeas use a whopping 76 gallons of water for every ounce. Droughts around the world have decreased chickpea production by 40%.
Coffee
Yes, you read that right. Because of climate change, all coffee beans are anticipated to be gone by the year 2080. Rising temperatures are severely impacting areas of the world where coffee beans grow.
Savor your morning cup while it lasts because you might have to get used to tea later in life. Fear not, though, there are some benefits to not drinking coffee.
Bananas
This sh*t is b-a-n-a-n-a-s. The species of banana that you know and love in the United States, the Cavendish banana, is being taken over by a disease called “Tropical Race 4.”
This disease affects the vascular system of the banana plant, meaning they can’t properly absorb water and nutrients from the soil. The disease is quickly spreading across continents, wiping out banana plantations.
Fish
Fish of all species are being caught faster than they can reproduce, causing an unsustainable strain on the depleting fish population.
It’s predicted that there will be no fish left by 2050 if nothing is done to change current fishing practices.
Peanuts
This, to me, is the most tragic reality by far. I cannot fathom a world where there is no peanut butter, but there could be no more peanuts by 2030.
Peanuts require a stable climate to grow, but climate change is unpredictable. Grown primarily in the southern states, these also happen to be the places suffering from the most droughts and warmest temperatures.
Maple Syrup
Maple syrup production requires freezing temperatures at night and warmth during the days. Climate change is making temperatures globally unpredictable, and droughts are also contributing to the decline in syrup production.
Honey
As the bee population is continuing to decline, so is the production of honey. The population of bees has decreased by more than 40% within the last decade all because of Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
As much as we all detest bees, they’re a vital part of our ecosystem and their extinction will cause much more than an end their natural sweetener.
Chocolate
You’re going to have to find another sweet to stress-eat. Chocolate is another victim of the ongoing droughts and increasing temperatures worldwide. It’s predicted that chocolate could be completely gone by 2050.
The problem is only getting worse as more people begin to prefer dark chocolate (AKA the best chocolate) which requires more cocoa to produce.
Italian Durum Wheat
Well mamma mia, this is a disaster. Yet again, droughts and warmer temperatures are negatively impacting the growth of durum wheat, especially in Italy. It is predicted that wheat yields will start declining by 2020 and may be completely gone by the end of our lifetimes.
Wine
Global warming strikes again. Grapes for wine are best when picked after the rain after a long drought, but since droughts are now lasting longer than ever, some grapes are dying before they even get the chance to be harvested.
Oranges
If you thought you could swap your morning pick-me-up beverage to OJ once coffee goes extinct, think again. Citrus greening disease is attacking the oranges nationwide and there is no cure once a tree becomes infected.
The disease is carried by an insect called Asian citrus psyllid and it has spread to every state where oranges are grown for juice.
Sad yet?
If we keep living the way we do now, climate change and its effects on agriculture will only continue to worsen. Nothing lasts forever, even our favorite foods. This list of endangered foods is only growing as global temperatures continue to rise, so appreciate these foods while you still can. Sooner than you’d like to think, they may be gone forever.