Check Your Thermos, Stat
Trouble is brewing. “Climate change could spell disaster for coffee, a crop that requires specific temperatures to flourish and that is highly sensitive to a range of pests. So scientists are racing to develop more tenacious strains of one of the world’s most beloved beverages.” WaPo’s Caitlin Dewey on the scientific advances being made in the race to save coffee. Rising seas will swallow our cities. Wildfires will rip through our forests and communities. Ferocious hurricanes will gain more damaging strength, while deadly heatwaves and droughts will be interspersed with raging floods. Warmer and increasingly polluted air will become less breathable. Ice caps will melt faster than the vanilla ice cream in an affogato. Bloody wars will be fought over food and natural resources as mass refugee crises become the norm. But, with a little luck, there’s a reasonably good chance that your Iced Caramel Latte Macchiato can be saved. (Though, there’s no guarantee baristas won’t go extinct.)
+ A new global report on pollution’s annual price tag: $4.6 Trillion and 9 Million Dead.