Scarcity

When you last went through a self-checkout at Woolies, were you asked to round up your bill for charity? Perhaps your $49.31 shop became $50.00, with the remaining 69 cents going to a good cause. Individually, these decisions seem almost trivial. Collectively, they can add up quickly. One Woolworths round-up campaign raised $770,000 for Foodbank in a single month, despite every individual donation being less than a dollar (Foodbank, 2026).

Whether it is in your morning latte or your afternoon treat, matcha has quietly become a staple in many diets. But as demand grows and supply tightens, this green tea powder is teaching us a lot more than just how to stay satiated – here is what global shortage of matcha reveals about scarcity in our modern world.