I personally prefer my brew with fewer hops, but apparently I may not have a choice! Clearly polar bears drowning and glaciers melting have not been enough to motivate the world into unified action to stop climate change But apparently our precious brew is being threatened. Can we get behind saving our precious hops. This article below comes from New Scientist.
In all seriousness climate change legislation is drifting away. That’s why this week we are generating hundreds of phone calls to our Senators so they realize that life as we know it could change forever if they don’t take action now. We are asking folks to call on Wed. Click here for details>>>
Read on for me details on the newest victim of Climate change:: Precious HOPS!
IF THE sinking Maldives aren’t enough to galvanise action on climate change, could losing a classic beer do it? Climatologist Martin Mozny of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and colleagues say that the quality of Saaz hops – the delicate variety used to make pilsner lager – has been decreasing in recent years. They say the culprit is climate change in the form of increased air temperature.
Mozny’s team used a high-resolution dataset of weather patterns, crop yield and hop quality to estimate the impact of climate change on Saaz hops in the Czech Republic between 1954 and 2006. Best-quality Saaz hops contain about 5 per cent alpha acid, the compound that produces the delicate, bitter taste of pilsners.
The study found that the concentration of alpha acids in Saaz hops has fallen by 0.06 per cent a year since 1954, and models of hop yields and quality under future global warming scenarios predict bigger decreases (Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2009.02.006).
It’s not just Czech hops that are at stake here, says Francesco Tubiello, a crop specialist at the European Commission and a lead author of the agriculture chapter of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. “The famous hop-growing regions of eastern Germany and central Slovakia are facing the same situation,” he says.
Is beer the final straw?? Are you ready to tell our Senators to support STRONG CLIMATE legislation? It’s more than just our frosty beverages at stake. Across the country this week we are generating thousands of phone calls to our Senators so they don’t forget to make climate a top priority.
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