SUMMARY
If you’ve shopped for chocolate recently, you may have noticed your favorite items are either smaller or more expensive, or sometimes both. The price of cocoa — the key ingredient in chocolate — is the highest it’s ever been after nearly doubling in the last four months. As Ali Rogin reports, this worldwide shortage has been years in the making.
View the transcript of the story.
News alternative: Check out recent segments from the NewsHour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. You can make a Google doc copy of discussion questions that work for any of the stories here.
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- Who is interviewed for this story?
- What unusual weather and other conditions have led to poor cocoa harvests?
- When did the unusual conditions that led to poor harvests begin in West Africa?
- How much of the world's cocoa is produced in the West African region impacted by poor harvests?
- Why do poor harvests in West Africa have such a big impact on worldwide chocolate prices?
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Chocolate prices may represent a small part of our economy, but how greatly do you think the U.S. economy is impacted by crisis outside the U.S. such as catastrophic weather? What do you think the U.S. can do to lessen the impacts of overseas crises on the economy?
Media literacy: Why do you think the producers of this segment chose to focus on the cost of just one specific import?
Alternative: See, Think, Wonder: What did you notice? What did the story make you think? What would you want to learn more about?
FOR MORE
What students can do: Some of the same weather patterns that are causing too much rain in Western Africa is also causing drought in the southern region of the continent. Watch the following video and discuss with a peer, family member or neighbor — how is the United States and the rest of the world impacted by catastrophic weather changes in Africa? What can international aid organizations including the United Nations do to help reduce the impact of these catastrophes?
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