How the coffee industry is about to get roasted by climate change - The Conversation Fall is always a good time to create new habits, and coffee chains know it. These days, they are desperately trying to find any excuse to get you to drink their java. Many chains used National or International Coffee Day, just passed, as a reason to offer their coffee at a discount, or even for free — with some conditions, of course. For restaurant operators, there’s no better hook than coffee to get repeat business. It’s a great scheme that seems to be working for some.
Charting the World's Most Powerful Militaries - Which Countries Dominate the Globe? The defense industry is one of the largest in the world. Nearly every country sets aside a large portion of their federal budget for military expenditures, which can have a major impact on their economies. It’s breathtaking to see that the United States and China account for nearly half of the world’s military spending! To see the effects of military spending on the world’s economy, let’s take a look at military expenditures around the world. Global spending on defense hit $1.78 trillion in 2018, up 2.6% on the previous year At $649B, the U.S. has the highest military spending in the entire world.
time This weekend, the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—will convene in the Chinese city of Xiamen for their annual summit. It wasn’t long ago that the BRICS were heralded as the future of the globalized economy. Then, for a variety of reasons, the group lost a bit of its luster. Now’s the time to check back in with them. 1. Every Plane Flight in the World Over One Year [Animated Map] One Year of Global Air Traffic (Full Screen Version) Select a country to view only that country’s incoming and outgoing air traffic. Built with Blueshift / data from World PopEmbed this on map on your website This globe displays one year of global air passenger traffic.
Uganda needs a caffeine fix: insights from Vietnam’s coffee market success Until recently Vietnam and Uganda shared a similar trajectory in the development of their coffee sectors. Today, Vietnam has emerged as the second largest coffee producer in the world. In Uganda, poor agricultural inputs and a failing institutional environment have resulted in low yields and slower development of the sector. In January 2017, world coffee exports already amounted to 9.84 million bags. How is the coronavirus affecting global air traffic? One week of air traffic in 2019 week commencing 18 Mar One week of air traffic in 2020 week commencing 23 Mar
The life cycle of a t-shirt - Angel Chang Watch NPR’s: Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt to get another view on just what it takes to create that piece of clothing you just bought at the store. How Your T-Shirt Can Make a Difference from National Geographic is another great video perspective on this topic. The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli is a book that also follows the journey of a t-shirt across the world. Read it to learn more. What is the environmental footprint of a t-shirt? Click here to find out.
A brief history of coffee: a drink for the devil Excited goats invent coffee Legend has it that Kaldi, a lonely goat herder in ninth-century Ethiopia, discovered the energising and invigorating effects of coffee when he saw his goats getting excited after eating some berries from a tree. Kaldi told the abbot of the local monastery about this and the abbot came up with the idea of drying and boiling the berries to make a beverage. He threw the berries into the fire, whence the unmistakable aroma of what we now know as coffee drifted through the night air. Here's how internet users breakdown across the world The pandemic has businesses everywhere on the ropes, with many firms filing for bankruptcy since lockdowns began. Despite the uncertainty, tech giants and major digital retail brands are still thriving—and some are running circles around those that are less pandemic-proof. Using data from Kantar and Bloomberg, a recent brand report released by BrandZ shows which tech companies are proving their worth to consumers during COVID-19 chaos.
Mapping the Flow of International Trade According the UN’s Comtrade database, the global market for imported goods totaled $15.6 trillion in 2015. This map shows where those goods came from and where they went, each dot representing $1 billion in value. Select a country to see the flow of goods in and out of that country. The Flow of International Trade (full screen) Coffee Gains Ground in China's Tea-Growing Pu'er Region A dozen international coffee experts shuffle around a long wooden table, pausing at each steaming cup, head dipping, sniffing deeply, and shuffling on once more. Then the raucous slurping begins. In the wings hangs Yang Fan, the coffee farmer, watching the judges circle intently, awaiting a verdict on her latest crop of beans. “This is the most international farmer coffee cupping we’ve ever had,” says Samuel Gurel, CEO of Torch Coffee roasters in the southwestern Chinese town of Pu’er, Yunnan province, referring to the weekly coffee grading process he hosts for local farmers.
Military Spending 2017 The biggest spender – by far- are the United States, followed by China, Saudi Arabia, India, France and Russia. The United States spent more than double than China on military expenses. The United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and South Korea complete the top 10 spenders. Six of the top spending countries are also nuclear powers. Some countries have no military, thus no military spending, like Iceland or Costa Rica. Iceland is a member of NATO nonetheless and contributes to NATO operations with both financial contributions and civil personnel.