Category Science

How climate change could impact chocolate production?

Chocolate aficionados will perhaps say chocolate is the most endearing invention by humans. We eat it when we are happy and when we are sad; when we celebrate something and when we want to cheer ourselves up. Basically, we don’t need a reason to bite into this delight.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it is the most popular sweet treats in the world. The global consumption is estimated to be at least 7.2 million metric tonnes every year.

But here comes the bitter truth – chocolates will soon become rare and expensive.

Chocolate production is threatened by climate change. Cacao trees, from which chocolates are produced, require certain conditions to grow, but with the changing climate, these conditions are no longer available.

How are chocolates produced?

Chocolate comes from fruits called pods that grow on cacao trees. Its seeds, cacao beans, are the main ingredient in chocolate. They are used to make chocolate paste, cocoa powder, cocoa butter and so on. These cacao trees grow only in the warm, humid regions near the Equator, largely in areas designated as rainforests. These places include parts of South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Cacao seeds are harvested by hand and placed in large fermentation trays. Fermentation, which takes two to seven days, gives the beans the chocolate flavour and aroma. The beans are then dried under the sun and are taken to chocolate factories, where they are cleaned and roasted in rotating ovens. This process removes the seeds’ coating, giving us the remaining part – the nib. The nib is then made into a paste called chocolate liquor, which is then used with other ingredients such as cacao butter, milk and sugar to make chocolates.

The story of chocolates

  • Chocolate’s history goes back to 450 BC, when the Aztecs and the Mayans (ancient people of central Mexico) used cacao beans to concoct a drink called xocoatl. It was quite bitter and frothy, and was often mixed with chilli. The Mayans and the Aztecs believed that chocolate was a gift from the gods. (So, do we!)
  • This chocolate drink was brought to Europe during the 16th Century when the Spanish started colonising South America.
  • A powdered form of chocolate was prepared after ‘cocoa press’ was invented in 1828. Then people started adding milk mass-produced. The hitherto drink of the elite became available for others.
  • British chocolate J.S. Fry and Sons introduced the chocolate bar in 1847. In the late 1800s, Milton S. Hershey began selling chocolate-coated caramels in the U.S. He then developed his own formula for milk chocolate. In 1923, the Mars Co. developed the Milky Way bar by putting nougat (made with sugar, honey and nuts) inside a chocolate bar.
  • As the years progressed, chocolate lent itself to innovation. It took different forms, depending on the ingredients, the percentage of cocoa, source of the beans and production method.

Types of chocolate

Dark, milk and white are the three main varieties of chocolates. While dark chocolate has chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla, milk chocolate has milk additives. White chocolate is milk chocolate without the chocolate liquor. (Since there is no cacao involved in the production of white chocolate, some argue that it is not chocolate at all.) Dark chocolates are believed to have a number of health benefits. They are good for heart and brain. And are often associated with positive effects on mood. But too much chocolate can be unhealthy because it contains high levels of sugar and fat which can make people put on weight. It can also cause tooth cavity among other issues.

Impending chocapocalypse

  • Cacao trees require steady temperatures, high humidity, lots of rain, nitrogen-rich soil, and protection from wind to thrive. Regions where cacao grows best often have high humidity levels – 100% during the day and 70-80% at night.
  • But with climate change, these conditions are changing. For cacao plants, the change in humidity is a major issue. As the globe heats up, the stages of the water cycle become erratic – floods and droughts become more prevalent and extreme. In tropical environments, rising temperatures lead to increased evaporation rates and decreased humidity, causing cacao crops to suffer.
  • Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana (both in Africa), and Indonesia are the leading cacao-producing countries. But researchers show that these countries will experience a 2.1 degree Celsius increase in temperature by 2050. This will in turn affect rainfall and humidity. As a result, viable land for cacao production will significantly shrink.
  • This has prompted experts to predict that chocolate productions will take a big hit. While chocolate will not go away completely off the shelves, it will become rare and expensive. The market may shift from cheaper, more accessible chocolates to more luxurious ones. That is, in the coming years, we may have to shell out more for chocolates.

Did you know?

  • Chocolate production can also harm the environment. Farmers often clear forests to make room for cacao plantations. About 70% of illegal deforestation in Cote d’Ivoire is related to cacao farming.
  • Cacao plants consume a lot of water. According to National Geographic, it takes 1,700 litres of water to make a 100-gm chocolate bar. That’s about 10 bathtubs of water for one bar of chocolate.

 

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Why particulate matter matters?

Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of minute solid and liquid particles suspended in air, which contributes to pollution. PM consists of a variety of components such as dust, pollen, soot, smoke, metal, and liquid droplets. These particles are everywhere – indoors and outdoors – in your home, school, on the road and in parks.

Categorisation

Particulate matter varies greatly in composition and size, ranging from a few nanometres to a few micrometres. These can only the detected using an electron microscope. However, some particles are large enough to be seen with the naked eye. The small particles are categorised as:

  1. PM10 – those with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less.
  2. PM2.5 – those with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less.

The diameter of a single strand of human hair would be 30 times larger than a PM2.5 particle.

Sources

Particulate matter originates from a range of human activities. They include industrial facilities, power plants, vehicles. Incinerators, dust and fires. Some come directly from a source such as construction sites, while others form in the atmosphere as a result of complex reactions between chemical pollutants emitted by power plants, industries and automobiles. The particles can travel in any direction that the wind takes them.

Harmful effects

Their ability to penetrate deep into the lungs, blood stream and the brain makes them the most harmful form of air pollution. These can lead to health problems, including heart attacks, respiratory disease, and premature death. The World Health Organisation has designated airborne particulates as carcinogens (cancer-causing).

Airborne particles can also contribute to global warming, climate change and acid rains. They can change or deplete nutrients in soil and contaminate waterways. They can damage cultural icons such as monuments and statues.

 

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Why does California experience forest fires quite often?

A heatwave is a period of prolonged abnormally high surface temperatures relative to those normally expected. Classifying a heatwave varies from country to country. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) defines heatwaves as fire or more consecutive days during which the daily maximum temperature surpasses the average maximum temperature by 5  or more.

  • California’s climate: Wildfires are a natural part of its landscape. California has two distinct fire seasons – one that runs from June through September and another from October through April. While the first one is driven by a combination of warmer and drier weather, the second one is driven by dry winds such as the Santa Ana and Diablo, which make wildfires spread rapidly and cover large areas.
  • Longer fire season: In the recent past, the fire season in California has been starting earlier and ending later. The length of the season is estimated to have increased by 75 days.
  • Beetle infestation: Prolonged drought conditions leave behind a landscape of dead trees, which lead to infestation by bark-eating pets such as the mountain pine beetle. Outbreaks of pests weaken and kill trees. Beetle-killed trees are at a higher risk of fire.
  • Warmer weather: Heatwave is a major contributor to forest fires in California. Did you know the Death Valley recorded  sweltering 130 degrees Fahrenheit last month? It was the hottest temperature recorded in the world since 1913.

What is the link between climate change and forest fires?

  • Climate change has created conditions conductive to forest fires. Long summer, drought, and dry air and vegetation make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire.
  • Climate change has led to frequent heatwaves across the globe. Hotter temperatures, again, mean parched land.
  • Climate change has also lengthened the fire season in many parts of the world.

 

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What are wildfires and why are they becoming more frequent and intense across the world?

Californian forests are up in flames again. Over 600 wildfires have burned down more than 1.25 million acres in Northern and Central California since August 15. The massive fires were set off by a lightning siege of over 12,000 strikes. High temperatures and strong winds have made the situation even worse. Wildfires have also been raging in Argentina’s Cordoba province and Parana Delta since July. Fueled by strong, dry winds and severe drought, the fires have destroyed at least 35,400 acres of forest in the Parana Delta, an important wetland ecosystem. What are the factors that fuel fire in a forest? Does climate have a role to play?

What is a wildfire?

An uncontrolled fire is an area of combustible vegetation which spreads quickly, wiping out large areas of land is called a wildfire. A wildfire can also be termed a forest fire, a grass fire, a peat fire or a bush fire depending on the type of vegetation present in the area.

What causes wildfires?

Wildfires are common in Australia, Southeast Asia, southern Africa, Western Cape of South Africa, the forested areas of the United States and Canada, and the Mediterranean Basin.

During summer, when there is no rain for months, the forests became littered with dry leaves and twigs, which could be ignited by the slightest spark.

Natural causes: Lightning is the most common cause of wildfire. There are three conditions for a forest fire to spread – fuel, oxygen and a heat source. In the forest, anything that is flammable is a fuel. This includes tall, dry grass, bushes and trees. High temperature, drought and dry vegetation are a perfect combination for igniting a forest fire.

Man-made disaster: Human neglect such as downed powerliness, sparks from tools or forest machinery, abandoned campfires and discarded cigarette butts can spark fires. People also tend to clear forests by setting them on fire to pave way for cultivation. Sometimes they set fire to scare away wild animals.

How is forest fire put out?

Traditional extinguishing methods include water dousing and spraying of fire retardants from aircraft. To limit the spread of a fire, firefighters remove ground litter and bush.

 

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What is a black hole?

A black hole is an area in space where the gravitational pull is so high that even light cannot pass through it. Its gravitational pull is high because a large amount of matter has been stuffed into a tiny space. Due to this intense gravitational pull, a black hole can suck anything near it, including gigantic stars.

How big is a black hole?

Black holes can vary in size, with the smallest called ‘primordial’, being as small as an atom but with the mass of a mountain. The largest of the black holes are called ‘supermassive’. Such black holes have a mass of more than one million suns put together. A third kind of black hole, which is found mostly in the Milky Way, is the ‘stellar’ black hole. This type of black hole’s mass is equivalent to that of 20 suns.

Despite their massive size, black holes are invisible to us because no light can pass through them. The best way to know the location of a black hole I through space telescopes with special tools that observe how the stars close to black holes behave differently from others.

How is it formed?

Each of the different types of black holes forms differently. Scientists believe primordial black holes were formed when the universe began, soon after the Big Bang.

Stellar black holes from when the centre of a massive star collapses upon itself.

Meanwhile, supermassive black holes, according to scientists, are thought to have formed around the same time as the galaxy they are in. The size of a supermassive black hole is relative to the size of the galaxy it is in.

 

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Couney and the carnival babies

Do you know what the meaning of pre-term birth is? A human child birth that occurs before the 37th week of pregnancy is referred to this way. While a full-term pregnancy normally lasts 40 weeks, not all children are born that way. Premature babies – babies born pre-term – often need longer and more intense nursery care. While this is the norm now with Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU), it wasn’t always the case. We have Martin Couney, a pioneer of early neonatal technology, to thank for that.

A little history before we take a look at what Couney did. By the end of the 19th Century, it was pretty clear to doctors that babies born pre-term needed extra care and often had complications. Incubators had been built and the first one to care for an infant was operational in 1888. On September 7 that year, Edith Eleanor McLean became one of the first babies to be placed in an incubator in a hospital in New York. These incubators, however, were seen more as medical curiosities and not much was done in terms of adoption.

First encounter

In that same year, French physician Pierre Budin, who had been wondering why more hospitals weren’t investing in incubators, began experimenting with the technology. Facing financial difficulties in terms of funding, Budin decided to display his incubators at the Berlin’s World Fair in 1896.

It was at this fair that Couney, Budin’s protege, was drawn towards what was to become a lifetime’s obsession. Budin’s display included premature babies acquired on loan from a hospital and Couney immediately realised that it would work. He was certain that the public would pay to see babies in incubators and that he would in turn be able to save the babies’ lives.

Couney travelled with his ideas to the U.S. and put it into practice. He picked the right place to serve as America was severely lagging behind European nations, which had France at the forefront, in neonatal care. He married Annabelle Segner, one of his nurses, in 1903 and his commitment to the cause was furthered when they had a pre-term daughter in 1907. Hildegarde, who was six week premature and weighed just 1.36 kg at birth, later joined her father’s business after training as a nurse.

Couney’s magic at Coney

If we had visited Coney Islands during the turn of the 20th Century, we would have been spoilt for choice. We could have tried out a roller-coaster, witnessed the re-enactment of the Boer War or simply waded in the water while eating an ice cream. Yet, one of the most popular permanent exhibits was Couney’s facility.

With signs so large they could be seen from the other end of the island, Couney’s facility played host to a life-and-death exercise. People, however, were willing to witness this freak show as they paid the 25-cent entrance fee to see the display of premature babies placed in incubators. A guard rail prevented over-enthusiastic visitors from getting too close.

The entrance fee allowed Couney to cover all his costs as he went about his task admirably. At a time when hospitals across the country were turning away from their responsibility of caring for premature babies, Couney welcomed them with open arms.

The incubator doctor

He not only hired the best doctors and nurses to take care of the babies, but he also accepted babies from all backgrounds. He never once saw their colour or class, nor did he ever accept payments from parents. Distressed, desperate parents were soon flocking to “the incubator doctor”, who then worked his magic.

Despite the fact that Couney wasn’t a trained medical practitioner, his methods started gaining traction. His facility in Coney Islands ran from 1903-1943 and he was able to replicate his success in other facilities he established as well.

Even though doctors were sceptical about Couney’s ways and even tried to discredit him, there was no denying that it was working. While there is no way to authenticate the numbers, there is reason to believe that Couney took in around 8,000 babies during the course of his career and was able to save about 6,500 of them. By the 1940s, neonatal care started becoming mainstream.

Incubators have come a long way since the time Couney had to showcase babies in them in carnivals. NICUs are now state-of-the-art in many hospitals, providing exclusive care for babies. Incubators these days protect preterm babies from infections, excessive noise or light. They also provide automatic adjustments based on the baby’s temperature and photo-therapy using special lights to treat neonatal jaundice, which is becoming increasingly common. And it all started with one man who believed he could make a difference.

 

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