Bad news for ice cream lovers, right in the middle of summer: some of your favorite flavors may be in danger of extinction, due to global warming and climate change, which make necessary ingredients much less available for frozen concoction manufacturers.
Cheryl Pinto, who is responsible at the American Ben & Jerry's chain for locating the diverse raw materials used by the company in its ice cream flavors, claims that in today's climatic reality it is much more difficult to grow cocoa beans, vanilla and coffee under proper conditions and fair to the farmers, which makes them rarer and more expensive .
In fact, the origin of about sixty percent of the world's cocoa beans is in West Africa, where farmers are dealing with the consequences of deforestation.
"Eighty to ninety percent of the trees are gone," explained Pinto.
"A lot of people don't realize that deforestation has a direct effect on weather patterns."
But it doesn't end there: scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration believe that the vast majority of areas in North Africa that currently grow cocoa beans will no longer be able to do so by 2050, when the shortage will really be felt.
The managers also explained that Arabica coffee beans, from which approximately sixty to seventy of all coffee drinks (and ice creams) in the world are produced, simply do not cope with a temperature that exceeds 24 degrees Celsius.
"Unfortunately, most coffee beans today are grown in equatorial regions - regions that are particularly affected by climate change and global warming," the experts explained.
But despite the disappointing news, the experts do not give up, but recommend using other varieties of beans that are able to grow at higher temperatures, even though they will be more difficult to obtain and their taste will be different.
Will this affect the availability and prices of our ice cream (and coffee, and chocolate) in the coming decades?
Presumably so, and Pinto clarifies that "in a warmer world, we must be aware of where our food comes from and support the farmers who provide it to us."
In the meantime, we recommend savoring each nail polish.
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