Entry 737, on 2008-04-08 at 20:23:21 (Rating 2, News)
According to a Herald article today the potential threat of climate change has just reached new levels of severity. According to climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger, from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, beer production could drop within 25 years because of a decline of malting barley production in parts of Canterbury and Australia.
I was prepared to ignore the harmful effects of climate change if it was just going to be London or New York flooded, habitats of numerous species wiped out, mass famine caused by numerous droughts, or major food production problems, but if beer production is going to be threatened then it has finally reached the point of being genuinely serious!
In a related story, Koalas are being threatened by excess CO2 making their normal diet, eucalyptus leaves, inedible. I asked an Australian friend about how concerned he was about this issue and he replied 'struth mate, stuff the Koalas tell me about the bloody beer again!
But seriously, in the comments on the story there was the usual smattering of inane conspiracy theories such as "Climate change is a giant con to take more taxes off people and line Al Gore's pockets" but most opinions were actually more sensible and there seems to be a majority who now accept it as real. Whether the beer story contributed to this I can't really say.
The link to the Herald article "Climate change could see pubs run dry" is here.
Comment 1 (1431) by Anonymous on 2008-04-18 at 22:29:13:
Well you've convinced me OJB. I was a doubter but if beer supplies are going to be affected I'm taking it seriously from now on.
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