Claim: Could Climate Change Lead to Tastier Chocolate

TODAY IN CLIMATE COMEDY

Add this to the list of things that climate change will cause or affect:

Could Climate Change Lead to Tastier Chocolate?

. . . This new chocolate study set out to find whether certain external forces can have an effect on the tastiness of cocoa beans. To do that, they measured the chemical composition—phenols (flavor), fat content, and antioxidant content—in samples taken from Bolivian cacao trees under different growing conditions. . . In situations with higher temperatures and less moisture in the soil, the cocoa beans showed significantly higher phenolic and antioxidant levels and a lower fat content. (Fat isn’t as big a deal as it sounds in chocolate; it’s usually separated from the bean as cocoa butter.)

Tastier, lower-fat chocolate? What’s not to like? I just knew that sooner or later the consensus scientists would start reporting the benefits of global warming.

Meanwhile, you know how we’re endlessly told that wind power is going to save the planet? Well guess what?

A changing climate is beginning to change wind energy’s potential to provide power in key regions, part of what could be a broader diminishment of a key renewable energy source in part of the world, according to two scientific studies. . .

The studies suggest that, at least for wind energy, that is not only happening — at least in some key locations — but that it could grow worse. . .

The first of the two studies, recently published in Nature Scientific Reports, gives a first glimpse at an answer. It finds that the nation that has installed more wind energy than any other on Earth — China — is actually seeing a lowering of wind energy potential across vast regions, especially inner Mongolia and Gansu, two of the largest installation areas.

Share: