Non-sweet future of chocolate

Happy Sunday!

For those celebrating, we wish you a happy and restful Easter. One of our main stories this week is timely, but not in a good way. We hope you’ve had the opportunity to indulge in your favourite type of chocolate!

For anyone with us for the first time, welcome to Voyage Green News! We provide a weekly dose of news and inspiration for a sustainable life. 💚 

♻️ This week’s sustainability news

Scary news for chocolate lovers

What’s happening: The price of cocoa has now exceeded USD 10,000 per tonne, for the first time ever. This makes it more expensive than copper as shortages occur in the market and chocolate makers scramble to secure the beans for their production runs.

Why it’s happening: Ghana is the world’s second-largest grower, and is currently facing challenges with how they fund the purchase of cocoa beans from farmers. The industry regulator is likely to lose access to a foreign bank loan as they don’t have enough cocoa beans to pay for the final tranche of payments. The lack of cocoa beans is due to bad weather and crop disease devastating local harvests. The heavy rain, dry heat and spread of disease has also hit neighbouring Ivory Coast. Together these two West African countries supply about 70% of the world’s cocoa. The heavy rain has also damaged roads, resulting in issues with transporting the cocoa beans to ports for export. These issues with weather and disease adversely affecting cocoa bean crops are a direct result of climate change.

Why it’s important: You likely have noticed increased prices for chocolate, or smaller sizes, or more variety in the ingredients used this Easter as a result of inflation and previous increases in the price of cocoa beans. Unless something drastically changes, it’s likely prices for chocolate will get even worse for the remainder of this year and into 2025 as the effects of the supply issues with cocoa beans flow through to producers. While probably a good thing for consumers’ waistlines, it’s a terrible situation for the cocoa bean farmers and the African countries that rely on their export to support their economies. It’s a clear example of how climate change can impact people around the world, but with more dire consequences for the livelihoods of those in developing nations.

Amazing advances in meat alternatives

What’s happening: First we have Dutch food company Meatable announcing a breakthrough in the time it takes them to produce cultivated meat. It now takes them only four days, which they claim is the fastest in the industry. Meanwhile, UK company Meatly announced the production of the world’s first cans of pet food made with cultivated chicken. The product was created in collaboration with its first brand partner, Omni, a fast-growing novel protein pet food company in the UK.

Why it’s happening: The cultivated meat industry has battled issues with high production costs, limiting its ability to scale for the mass market. Companies are continuing to innovate to resolve these issues and achieve the same level of cost as animal-based meat products.

Why it’s important: The meat industry produces a large portion of global greenhouse gasses and is one of the leading causes of deforestation in countries like Brazil. Reducing meat consumption is therefore one of the best ways to battle climate change. Cultivated meat products use the safe capture of cells from animals to replicate their natural processes of muscle and fat growth. For people who don’t want to give up the taste of meat, these products may be the perfect way to keep eating their favourite foods without contributing to climate change. We could also soon have a better option when feeding our pets. They will receive nutritionally beneficial food that doesn’t come from the slaughter of other animals or contribute to climate change.

🌐 Easy sustainable travel

21 green travel tips

How we can negate the negative effects of travel: We outline the best ways you can travel consciously for the benefit of our planet and local people.

😇 People doing great things

Regenerating urban habitats

Planting trees and revegetation to restore eco-systems: Locals volunteered thousands of hours of their time to reverse an industrial wasteland and save a local creek near Melbourne, Australia. They used only indigenous plants to restore bushland and a wetland habitat in the area. One of the largest initiatives to restore native habitats in Australia is Plant Trees Australia, organised through Carbon Positive Australia. It provides a way for volunteers to find and join community groups conducting tree-planting projects across Australia.

⭐️ Weekly inspiration

Hey, Voyage Green has won an award!

Leading sustainable travel blog 2024: Recognised in Lux Life magazine’s Travel and Tourism Awards. Thank you for nominating and voting for us!

Replacing coal production with solar production

This American state has the right idea: Pennsylvania will be building their biggest solar plant on coal mining land near a shuttered coal plant.

Climate activism for all generations

Jane Fonda is leading the way: After experiencing the Californian wildfires and inspired by Naomi Klein’s On Fire manifesto, the OG celeb-activist took action.

Thanks for reading! 😄 

Don’t be shy! Hit reply to this email if there’s anything you want to share. We love to read what’s on our readers’ minds and respond to everyone.

We’ll be in your inbox again next Sunday. Until then, we hope to see you around on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok. 💚