An Urgent Matter

I published the post below on Substack via the Coffee Curmudgeon site there, but I wanted to include it here as well, as part of the permanent record, so to speak. Kerri Goodman, Editor and Publisher of Coffee Talk also asked to include it in their next issue and I thanked her for the compliment (it’s on Page 6 of this document: https://coffeetalk.com/ctmagazine/2024.03https://coffeetalk.com/ctmagazine/2024.03 ).  

One thing that I should note is that after publishing the post on the Coffee Curmudgeon site on Substack and sending Kerri a version for Coffee Talk I made several changes to the article below and shortened it considerably. Some folks might still say that it is a tad verbose, but I’ll let the  “dear reader” (that would be you) decide.

The post follows immediately below, thanks for reading:

In writing this, I am assuming that most people understand that climate change is the biggest problem facing the human race and, obviously, coffee production is also threatened. (Sounds a little silly, huh? — Can we allow that even our coffee is secondary to a global apocalypse?)

But, as I write this, I realize that I am not sure if we’re all on the same page — are we? Do all of us coffee-involved people understand that climate change is an existential threat to coffee production and to us humans, in general?

I do know one person, someone whom I admire for his business skills and acumen. I also like this person and consider him a friend. I have never spoken with him about climate change, and I suspect that he does not agree with me regarding the severity of the problem, or if there even is one, or how to deal with it. I am not writing to him today.

This is written to those of you who agree with me regarding climate change.

The most effective and constructive way to fight climate change is for all of us to band together and work for the public policies and governmental regulations that can assure us of a climate in which we might be able to survive. So, I write this post not with the hope that I will change minds but with the ambition to remind us all, including myself, that the most important thing we can all do is to vote this fall for candidates that support the fight against climate change — the existing policies and regulations we now have are only a start. The next most critical action we can take is to encourage those we know that already agree with us to also vote.

All of our voluntary efforts as an industry are exemplary and helpful, but truly meaningful change — reversals in the levels of atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases being emitted into the air — can only come through public policy and effective government regulation, both domestically and internationally.

Domestically, for Americans, this means, specifically, we need to vote this fall. One presidential candidate has promised to support and initiate legislation and regulations that will serve to slow and perhaps someday reverse climate change; the other candidate has promised to reverse initiatives that we’ve made as a nation and make no other efforts to stop it.

Our industry is uniquely advantaged in its ability to reach out to people because so many of us have daily, personal contact with, collectively, millions of people — to those of you making and serving coffee, they come to you for a sip of joy and rejuvenation every day, and many of them return throughout the day. Is it time to remind those people, many of whom may not vote at all unless reminded to do so, of how high the stakes are at this point? The natural tendency is to remain apolitical in terms of our businesses, but with a cause so urgent and time so short, maybe it’s time to take some risks in reaching out to the people, at least, who already agree with us but may need an extra boost to take the time and trouble to vote this fall.

If we don’t slow climate change and eventually reverse it, we, those of us who may still be here, will bear witness to unprecedented human suffering and species extinctions.

Not that there aren’t a lot of other issues I care about; I am sure that the same is true for anyone reading this. But there is one issue upon which human existence, as we know it, depends. We have to get it right with regard to climate change.

Finally, because I love our country, I hope that the friend I mention above will also vote, in whichever way he chooses. Our flawed but evolving democracy depends upon it. This is a desperate fight we’re in, but it needs to be a fair one.

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I’d like to thank Peter Baker, currently associated with Climate Edge, Ltd., for prompting me to write this via his public comments, although he should not be blamed for the opinions I express.