Which is strange, because beer is Bad for climate change, since is contains CO2 and is shown to cause obesity, as well as over-consumption of foods that are Bad for climate change
Editorial: To get the climate change message across, talk about beer
For years, the overwhelming scientific consensus on global warming hasn’t been enough to convince some skeptics — mostly those making a living off of the fossil fuel industry — that the U.S. or anybody else should lift a finger to reduce carbon emissions.
If you bring “consensus” into the mix, you’re practicing politics, not science. Furthermore, trotting out the old “living off the fossil fueled industry” meme, you’re being insulting, and unserious.
Then came the government reports, analyzing serious shifts in weather patterns, and predicting massive new costs to deal with rising oceans, unpredictable river levels, floods, fires and famine. (snip)
None of it created much movement among stubborn climate change deniers.
Nothing like comparing political opponents to Hocolocaust deniers to get them to listen to you. Tell you what: try calling the next person you are having a discussion with an asshole. See if they’re willing to listen to your opinion.
But now there’s a magic buzzword that could help Americans, particularly those who vote Republican, realize that climate change is truly worth taking seriously.
“Beer.â€
More specifically, bad beer.
On Wednesday, a group of business owners, environmentalists, politicians and beer drinkers gathered at Urban Chestnut’s Washington Avenue brewery to hear some truly scary news. Beer’s principal ingredients, hops and barley, are sensitive plants. They don’t like it when the weather is too warm, which is why so much of the world’s beer ingredients, especially hop flowers, are grown in Germany and the northwest U.S. Warmer temperatures could negatively affect taste, and, ultimately, the price, of your favorite brew.
It could, but won’t. A slight increase in global temperatures hasn’t caused a problem yet, and the possibility of a slight increase in the future, whether natural, anthropogenic, or a combination, won’t have any affect, either. Remember when the Brits were producing fantastic wines during the Medieval Warm Period, while French wines suffered? Things change.
Hit Joe Six-Pack in the wallet and he pays attention.
Tell a beer drinker loyal to his brand that next year’s batch of brew is going to lack the gentle, beechwood-aged taste he’s grown used to, and, well, revolution comes to mind.
And Skeptics can respond that the uptick from 1980-1996 didn’t affect the beer quality, nor did the big spike in 1997 due to El Nino. In fact, there has been a huge spike in micro-brew production over the last 20 years, producing utterly awesome beers.
