Chocolate Bunnies Can Teach Us to Save Our Food Supply
Climate threats, child labor and deforestation threaten to upend the world’s cacao bean crops unless the big candy makers follow the lead of upstarts like Tony’s Chocolonely.
Chocolate’s endangered future.
Photographer: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Easter 2022 arrives this week with its usual egg-hunting and chocolate-bunny traditions, but also with some bitter new realities.
A fresh outbreak of avian flu in the U.S. has wiped out tens of millions of hens in recent weeks, causing a shortfall in the eggs typically sold for dying and decorating — and reminding us once again about the vulnerability of our food supply. And while there’s no shortage of chocolate confections on store shelves, consumers will be paying more, and these higher prices are a harbinger of growing environmental and social burdens imperiling the industry.