Drink-a-Pint

I’ll be the first to say that I am a bit of a worrier when it comes to some things, but this is something that never even came close to crossing my mind: “Britain could run out of beer due to global warming, experts said yesterday.”

That’s the opening sentence from an article that appeared in The Daily Star. Apparently, rising temperatures won’t only be responsible for melting ice caps, rising ocean levels and weather that’s straight out of a The Day After Tomorrow, it could also create a worldwide booze shortage that would leave bars and store shelves empty around the world? Oh, the humanity…

Not to be confused with the current hops shortage, the culprit here would be the loss of barley crops due to excessive heat. No barley = no beer.

Climate scientist Jim Salinger told The Daily Star, “It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up” and that the crisis could be averted if heat-resistant strains of malting barley could be developed.

Aussies and Kiwis are most likely to feel the effects of this early on, but the whole world’s beer supply will reportedly be at risk within the next 30 years.

So, if you were looking for a good reason to go green, reduce your carbon footprint or whatever, this sounds like as good a cause as any.

Save the beer!