Climate change hits beer production

I would argue that we should keep any kind of methane production (dairy cattle) under tighter regulation than CO2 emitters... Methane has a much larger effect on global warming than CO2.

Cow milk isn't natural for humans anyway...

I saw a ABC news link at the bottom of the article and if you are getting your info from them for this article don't worry then. ABC is another kook left news group in the USA that is nothing but a bunch of lemmings for that idiot Al Gore. Don't believe a word they say, in fact if they say something usually the opposite is true for they are professional liars.

AT adds: Erm, the A in this case stands for 'Australian'. And how, exactly, would a shortage of American "beer" affect anyone who likes a pint?

Stephen, a few seconds in Google would show you that you are missing one step in the calculation. Methane is indeed a 3x stronger greenhouse gas than CO2, but the important point is that there is 10x as much CO2 in the atomosphere as methane, so overall CO2 has a stronger effect.

You will learn to like the taste of well fermented milk.

If you look at Regulas's complaint about an established centrist news organization, then you can see how the right wing in America has become a bunch of rabid dogs on the whole global warming issue.

They are determined to squash any reasonable discussion of the issue and keep wasting energy while the rest of us go without the simple things in life, like good beer!!!

If this were indeed to hold true, I predict a huge rise in marijuana consumption world wide as an alternative. Anyone care for Guinness branded bong or a nice glass pipe produced by Budweiser?

@ Regulas: Wow. Your lack of intelligence leaves me in tears of laughter. Even the extreme right Fox news agency reports there is a hop shortage…maybe you should have used the google before blurting out uniformed rubbish. 

Only a moron like you can go on believing a world-wide crop shortage is part of a political lie coming from the Americas. WORLD WIDE...AS IN SPANNING THE GLOBE! How exactly would any "kooky" political group in the Americas benefit from a lie that involves a WORLD WIDE phenomenon?

Yes, this is all part of Al Gore's cover up to show that global warming exists...you are right, sorry, I am the idiot. He must have gotten to the far right wings now too. HAHA, you made me laugh today, thanks. 

No worries, Bud is made from corn and has almost no hops at all. Even if they have to cut the hops out, it will still keep it's vomit flavor.

Methane is 21x worse than CO2 (not 3x) according to every source I've ever seen. And unnecessary methane emissions are probably MUCH easier to address than CO2.

So it makes sense to address methane emissions as a top priority. In fact, I question the sanity of those that focus solely on CO2.

Is the current world wide shortage of hops. 

Climate change in America's Pacific NW is causing a failure in hop production, so hops for making *real* beer (not the megabarrel lite substitute) are nearly unavailable at any price. Our local Austin brewers are having to go as far afield as Austria to get hops, and that is driving the prices of a good pint astronomical.

No supporting evidence, but Regulas is either pathologically sarcastic, or frighteningly idiotic. 

(Talking of 'frighteningly idiotic', has anyone ever seen Hotel Babylon?)

Climate is always changing. It gets hotter. It gets colder. Plants grow more quickly. Plants grow more slowly. It rains. It's dry. It snows. There's ice. There are floods. There's a drought. The sea level rises. The sea level falls. There are lots of clouds. The sky is clear. One thing that never changes however, are the lengths the media will go to to link AGW with the latest (fill in the blank) catastrophe. I read an article on the BBC stating that a reduction in the shark population will ultimately have an impact on global warming. I'M NOT JOKING! If you want the reasoning behind this idiotic story, here goes: less sharks = more fish, more fish = less algae, less algae = more CO2. You can't fault the logic. It's insane.

For further information on climate catastophism, please refer to the following, perhaps more intelligent discussions:

http://www.climateaudit.org/

http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/

http://sepp.org/Archive/weekwas/weekwas.html

According to Wikipedia (supposedly a good source), in the period from 1750 - 1998, atmospheric CO2 has increased from 278ppb to 365ppb, while methane has increased from 700ppb to 1745ppb. Methane breaks down into CO2 and water, with a half life of 7 years. 

So, methane is a pretty significant contributor to global warming.

You did in fact link to the American ABC, the Australian ABC is here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/, and there's nothing there about Australian beer shortages.

"AT adds: Erm, the A in this case stands for 'Australian'. And how, exactly, would a shortage of American "beer" affect anyone who likes a pint?"

It's not a shortage of BMC (Bud-Miller-Coors) it's a shortage of barley, which is what real beer is made of! BMC is all corn and rice that have been shown a picture of hops and barley for about 20 seconds.

The idea that CO2 is driving climate change is not only a joke, but those that believe in it refuse to listen to real scientists that actually study this stuff, pointing fingers and accusing them of being in the pockets of big oil. Get a grip. No only is the whole thing as big a hoax as yesteryear's scare of the hole in the Ozone, it's costing all of us billions upon billions of dollars in the added cost of companies buying into this political pressure. People like Gore just get richer off of spewing this garbage and you're all just duped in the process.

The Earth has bee much warmer and much colder in relatively recent times and CO2 had absolutely nothing to do with it. Why do idiots insist that this time it's different and something needs to be done? Lemmings...

@regulas: you ignorant fool.
@@AT: however that does not look like a link to the Australian ABC though...

Cause plants hate CO2. Everyone knows if you want to kill a plant give it too much CO2.

Oops, should have checked my figures. Nevertheless, it is still the case that CO2 is a stronger contributor to climate change than CH4 overall at the present. Nobody denies methane is a factor though. The 3x factor is the overall number, so CO2 has a 3x larger effect than methane. Data here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Radiative-forcings.svg

To "hoaxbuster" - rolls eyes. The vast majority of scientists who study this stuff are convinced it is real. There is a small minority that disagrees, as with almost any field in science. You really need to be seriously self-delusional to say what you are saying.

Gil - what a brilliant argument. Not.

is not found in the US, so there is no issue for them.
For the Belgians, on the other hand, it is simply a case of life and death. Anyone touching their beer production would do well to do so from far away, and anonymously. Otherwise, the would-be perpetrator will find himself skinned alive.
Belgian folk are nice and friendly most of the time, but for Heaven's sake don't mess around with their beer if you value your life.
I am ready to believe that Australians value their beer as much as Belgians do, so it looks like there's going to be a revolution Down South.

The Landscheidt Minimum coming will be hard on more than Beer Production. It should be good for Art Work going by the Maunder Minimum though.

It amazes me how many people will internalize the nonsense that's spewed by people with an agenda, even when that spew has been proven faulty. Do any of you global warming nutjobs realize that there is NO climate change model that takes into account the behavior of that burning orb in the sky? Might that not seem like a teensy little flaw in the models, given the fact that the heat from said orb is the only thing responsible for your miserable existance? You people need to unbunch your panties, stop acting like the useful idiots you do such a good job of being, and at least TRY to function with a modicum of common sense.

And the Lord said unto Moses:


ONE
There is no scientific dispute over global warming. Anyone who says there is, is wrong. Can we *all* try and remember this, please?

Just because some reactionary wronghead has the necessary hand-eye coordination to type out a phrase that contradicts the above statement, that does not constitute scientific dispute. That constitutes a downside to freedom of speech.


TWO
The science might be wrong, but it's the best we've got. The latest IPCC report was peer-reviewed by thousands of scientists from different disciplines/organisations and countries.


THREE
There is no environmental lobby, no environmental gravy train. Or at least, whatever there is, it is insignificant compared to the very rich and very powerful oil, car and avaiation lobby (anyone heard of the Republican party?). 


FOUR
Those that contradict the consensus are in the teeny-tiny minority for a reason. It's because there's only a teeny-tiny chance that they are right. Unfortunately the media gives them a much louder voice than they deserve.


Amen

It doesn't make a bud wurser!
All I dirnk is bottled imports from Europe; no Red Stripe for me.

I have to stick up for US because I am a beer lover. US beer that is the mass produced using corn is nothing but p*ss water and only rednecks, alcoholics, and people under 21 like it.

If you talk about US micro-brews, now some of those are the best beers in the world. American IPAs, double IPA, and triple IPAs are the best I have ever had out all other countries IPAs that I have tasted. English IPAs are a sad joke and that is where they originated from! US loses the lager and ale race for sure, but hands down, US micro-brew stouts, porters, and IPAs are top notch. 

PS, what ever happened to El Nino? I like blaming that guy instead of GW.