Today, the demand for chocolate continues to rise while the effects of climate change threaten to impact chocolate production. Chocolate is sweet, but what about its environment impact?
Cacao production was predominately in West Africa, however, it has expanded to South America to keep up with the market. Some research suggests that cacao farmers clear tropical forests to plant new cacao trees rather than reusing previously used land, becoming one of the leading causes of deforestation.
A study in 2012 investigated the effects of deforestation and found that their sample cacao plantation could store approximately 40 metric tons of carbon per hectare over its production lifetime! The World Resource Institute did the math and if you apply this to a 2,000 hectare planation–YIKES! The net carbon emissions from land-use change will be 0.6 million metric tons (more than 660,000 tons) of carbon dioxide.
Ah, Summer. Whether you believe in climate change or not, we can all agree that it is HOT outside. On a scolding summer day, nothing sounds more refreshing to me than a cold scoop of ice cream. Afterall, who doesn’t like ice cream? It’s creamy, rich, and comes in so many interesting flavors! What’s not to like? Well, I sadly found the answer to that.
