Bad news for drinking people: climate change will increase beer prices

Enjoying a cool beer on a hot summer day can become a "luxury" hobby due to climate change.

According to Motherboard, one week has passed since a group of climate scientists sent a report to the United Nations calling for a restructuring of global energy industries over the next 12 years to prevent damage. heavy of climate change. While this report is being responded by individuals and organizations that are trying to call for climate change repression, it is also ignored and ignored by many key leaders.

But a new study from Nature Plants has identified a problem that is affected by climate change that almost everyone will care about - beer . The lead researcher is Wei Xie, an agricultural scientist at Peking University. This article shows that the barley and main crop areas used for brewing, are expected to experience severe drought caused by natural disasters and human behavior.

Picture 1 of Bad news for drinking people: climate change will increase beer prices
The main crop used for brewing is expected to experience severe drought caused by human behavior.

According to five climate models that use different expected temperature increases in the coming century, extreme weather events can reduce barley yields by 3 to 17%. Harvesting of barley is mainly sold as animal feed. Therefore, the production of beer from this cereal may be restricted to livestock and other farm animals.

As a result, beer - the most popular alcoholic drink in the world - will suffer a severe shortage. Over the next few decades, this drink will become a luxury and out of the reach of hundreds of millions of people, including those in rich countries - where beer production is a major industry. The price increase is estimated to range from 4 USD to 20 USD for a standard of 6 beers in countries such as the US, Ireland, Denmark and Poland.

Beer is the latest evaluated drink that could be affected by climate change. The wine, tea and coffee industry also faces a shortage due to severe weather and diseases affecting crops.

Picture 2 of Bad news for drinking people: climate change will increase beer prices
Within the next few decades, this drink will become luxurious and out of the reach of hundreds of millions of people.

Xie and his colleagues acknowledge the frivolity of focusing on beer instead of lethal consequences. However, they also point out that "multiculturalism of beer" is a powerful tool to convince the public about climate change.

"Perhaps more millennia, beer is still an important component of people's social gatherings and celebrations. Although it can be argued that less beer is consumed," the team concluded. not a disaster - and maybe even a health benefit - no one doubts that for millions of people around the world, climate change will leave a negative impact. "

In other words, if you want to have a cold beer on a hot summer day, join your hands. Beer - of course, is not the most logical motivation to demand action on climate change, but human love for beer is noted with the creation of civilization, so hopefully kind of This drink can affect people's thinking about global climate change.