NOOO! Chickpeas and Avocados Might Be Going Extinct
As climate change realities become more clear with each passing day, it’s hard not to take an interest in being a more environmentally responsible consumer, and that includes paying closer attention to the resource-heavy and inconvenient process of getting your food to your table (or more realistically, to your couch, in front of your Netflix). With current droughts all across the globe, staples like chickpeas and avocados are feeling the burn, and current data shows that — brace for this — it’s quite possible they’re going extinct.
If you’re like us and grabbing a few avocados for toast and salads every week, you might be shocked to learn that it takes 72 gallons of water to grow them — yes, just those few in your fridge. With more than 80 percent of America’s avocado supply being grown in California, and with California’s ongoing drought, well — it’s not good. Chipotle has even said they may need to take the green goodness off their menu if the conditions don’t improve.
And if those numbers were a shock, sit down for these — it takes 76 gallons of water to make just one ounce of your standard 15-ounce can of chickpeas, and a 2014 study reported that annual production has dropped by half. Ouch.
Could you give up your avocado habit? Let us know over @BritandCo.
(ht/ ThisIsInsider; Photos via Spencer Platt/Getty, David McNew/Getty)
