Global climate change is affecting the world's ecosystem—and your grocery store offerings—in more ways than you might realize. As ocean waters get warmer, lobster populations shift north and dwindle supplies elsewhere. With both daytime and nightly temps continually rising, and pesky droughts sticking around, many crops are taking a serious hit. And we're seeing shortages of essentials like hops and olive oil. But, according to climate change expert Gerald Nelson at the University of Illinois, there five foods that might not survive the heat at all. And the worst part is that they're likely your favorites.
1. Coffee
In Latin America (Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala especially), Arabica coffee will be totally strained and trees could die off completely, which means we'd suffer the huge loss of lattes and overly friendly baristas. This is because temperature and elevation are key factors to its growth. "Coffee grows in a certain temperature range and they've been moving up the mountains. But at some point you run out of mountains to move up," Nelson told Yahoo.
2. Potatoes
Potatoeswill mostly see a hit in India in particular, but a global challenge will also present itself. That means we could lose french fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, basically every delightfully starchy side dish we've ever loved. Nelson says potatoes need "a cool nighttime temperature in order to start growing the tuber, the part we eat." So, yeah, bad news for fry addicts once the heat gets to be too much after dark.
3. Apples
The U.S. and Japan could lose quality (a.k.a crisp, crunchy) apples altogether. Because apples need a period of vernalization—a process in which cold weather leads to flowering—shortened cold-weather seasons would cut that dramatically. "You'll have more issues with tree crops like apple and cherries," Nelson says. And to make matters worse, Japanese studies have shown that apple quality has already been deteriorating over the last 40 years.
4. Wheat
Durum wheat, you know the stuff that makes macaroni, spaghetti, rigatoni, and all of our other favorite pastas, will be severely affected in the U.S., Canada, India, Russia, and Australia—basically everywhere it's grown. "A 1-degree change over the past 50 years has already sparked a 5.5 percent decline in crop yield," according to The End of Pasta, a book recommended by Nelson. But the worst is yet to come: A 25 percent drop is expected by 2050.
5. Rice
All major rice-growing regions are about to get pummeled as well. According to Nelson, when night temperatures go up, the rice has a problem flowering. "It won't make as many seeds," he explains. What's more: Rising sea levels (also due to climate change) could flood rice paddies and affect the water's salt-levels, effectively ruining rice forever.
Okay, excuse us now while we cry into dishes of all of our favorite foods.
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