Unless you’re particularly against science, I think we have now agreed that global warming is happening and climate change is bad. The sea levels are rising, daily temperatures are increasing, the weather will get increasingly erratic, it’s probably going to wipe out chocolate and it’s possibly even taking away our sex drives.
But now, NOW it has really gone too far. It’s now affecting our BEER. If we don’t have chocolate and we don’t have beer: what DO we have? Beer is a national past time. I’ve literally gone travelling, been asked by the bartender if I was Aussie, and received a free pint with absolutely no strings attached simply because I answered in the affirmative.
These extreme weather conditions caused by global warming are now being linked to the global consumption of beer. Not because of how much we humans want it, but because farmers simply won’t have enough crops to supply to the blessed beer makers.
The new study international conducted by the United Kingdom’s University of East Anglia, and reported on by Business Insider, involved researchers across China, Mexico and the U.SA. and 34 world regions to get a global view of climate change predictions on barley yields.
What they found was mildly depressing. According to the study, as the wild weather spreads across the globe and continues to take its toll on farmers’ crops, barley crops and grains used for malting, will suffer. The study is predicting up to a 16% decrease in our beer consumption. Just to put that in dramatic perspective for you, that’s equivalent to 29 billion litres, aka the current mount of beer currently consumed each year in the U.S.A.
Sure, compared to a slowly dying planet beer may not seem that dramatic to some. I won’t even comment on the sanity of those particular people. But one of the study’s authors, Dabo Guan, reckons you’re kidding yourself if you won’t care about the loss.
“It may be argued that consuming less beer isn’t itself disastrous, and may even have health benefits. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that for millions of people around the world, the climate impacts on beer availability and price will add insult to injury.”
Then of course, because of that whole supply and demand thing they taught you in high school economics, we will be looking at beer prices going through the damn roof. We’re talking DOUBLING.
According to Guan, the Aussie battler’s right to a nice cold beer at the end of the day could be at stake here, with rising prices throwing us back into a second prohibition of sorts. Because that worked out so well last time.
“We’re not writing this piece to encourage people to drink more today than they would tomorrow,” Guan explained “What we’re saying is that … if people still want to have a pint of beer while they watch football, we have to do something about climate change.”
Here, here! Can we just make some positive changes to save the planet already? Think of the beer!
