Global
Warming is the talk of much of the science community due to its drastic effect on the world
we live in. It already has affected the climate, increasing the overall
temperature of the water and the atmosphere. Animals now need to migrate or find new ways to
survive in their ‘new environment’; many are having difficulty doing that and
may possibly become
endangered or even extinct. Many crops, such as rice, a staple food in many countries,
have also been affected by the increase in temperature and droughts affecting availability and cost of these essential foods. Overall, the
consensus is that global warming has
a profoundly adverse impact on our planet.
What if I told you that
one of the most appreciated leisure
indulgence was at risk as well? Based on the article
“Climate change is about to make your beer more expensive”, recent studies show
that beer will become much more expensive. This is because production of
barley, beer’s main component, will be reduced significantly based on the trend
of heat waves and droughts over recent decades.
Scientists predict that the best case situation will lead to a 15% increase in
price and 4% reduction in consumption. The worst
case scenario is
16% reduced consumption and at least 50% increase in beer prices. This is huge,
considering all the jobs linked
to breweries and the massive consumption of beer around the
world. China is the world’s largest beer consumer and will lose 4.3 billion
liters of consumption. Ireland will be affected the most in terms of price;
studies predict it will go up five dollars per 500 milliliter. The United
States will still be able to produce close to the amount of barley as it presently does, but since the
rest of the world will lose a major portion of their barely production, the
United States will need to export more barely.
It is
amazing that even beer, a ‘commodity’ to some, is threatened by global changes in temperature and
moisture levels. This is just one example of the profound impact of climate
change, highlighting the need to address this issue to prevent further adverse affects . Hopefully
one day we will ultimately put a stop to this beast and be able to say ‘cheers’
to each other and drink a non-expensive
beer.
-Rachel Klett
This was a really interesting read! It is surprising to me that this isn't more of a hot topic since beer is so universally liked and very much a social activity. Is there a possible GMO that could be engineered to make the barley plant more susceptible or suited for the future droughts and heat? I feel if this was more commonly known, there would be a stronger push for climate correcting policy from more groups of people.
ReplyDeletePosted by Jamie Courtney
Ya, I am also surprised that the issue isn't talked about more; maybe the big news sources haven't heard about it yet. GMOs might help to a degree, but plants still need plenty of water and stable weather conditions to stay alive. Hopefully scientists are finding ways to help reduce the effects of global warming.
ReplyDelete-Rachel Klett