An extinction of good brews?
iIf the idea of rising temperatures and rising sea levels wasn’t enough to make climate change seem like a calamity, consider the possibility of no more coffee or beer. Because of extreme heat and water shortages, hops and coffee beans may soon be endangered species.
From the New York Times…
A report examining the many ways climate change threatens coffee and coffee farmers has alarmed people who are now imagining what it would be like getting through the day without their caffeine fix.
The report, released this month by the Climate Institute, a nonprofit organization in Australia, was commissioned by Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand, the regional hub of the global Fairtrade system.
Though it contains little new research, it has made waves by collating an array of available literature indicating that climate change will have a stark effect on the world’s coffee supply.
And from a Brewery Climate Declaration…
Warmer temperatures and extreme weather events are harming the production of hops, a critical ingredient of beer that grows primarily in the Pacific Northwest. Rising demand and lower yields have driven the price of hops up by more than 250 percent over the past decade. Clean water resources, another key ingredient, are also becoming scarcer in the West as a result of climate-related droughts and reduced snow pack.
You may want to pour yourself a cold one before it gets too hot.
Lorri Barrett is conservation defense coordinator for the Land Trust Alliance.