The news this week is all about beer and climate change. According to the faux scientists University of East Anglia, the world will see a HUGE spike in the price of beer if we do not abolish the capitalist system and give up fossil fuels IMMEDIATELY!
You remember the University of East Anglia, don’t you? These were the guys who were fudging temperature data to make the “hockey stick” curve of global temperatures appear so dramatic. These were also the guys who ignored a whole set of data during the Medieval Warm Period that showed temperatures warm enough to grow Bordeaux wine grapes in England.
Their antics caused such a kerfuffle that the big Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009 turned into a giant bust. Nobody was going to make drastic changes based on demonstrable falsehoods.
Well, they are at it again.
Now, they say that extreme heatwaves and droughts will damage the world’s barley crop, a key ingredient in beer. With such a shortage, the price of beer is going through the roof!
While more people will die because of climate change, the spike in beer prices might seem an unimportant issue. However, according to Professor Prof Dabo Guan at the University of East Anglia, “If you still want to still have a couple of pints of beer while you watch the football, then climate change [action] is the only way out. This is the key message.”
OK. Give up capitalism to stop the price of beer from spiking. That’s what this genius is saying.
Except, here are some inconvenient facts for Professor Guan. First, the actual demand for beer in many countries (like the US) is declining. In 2017, overall beer consumption declined about 1.2%. Admittedly, the growth in craft beer was strong at 5%, but the decline in the overall market tells me that regular old mass-produced beer like Budweiser was getting kicked out of Joe SixPack’s fridge, and getting replaced by Southern Star.
If you are seeing an increase in beer prices, it’s not due to climate change, it’s due to the fact that people are replacing cheap beer with expensive beer. And, if barley prices are skyrocketing, why isn’t the price of even craft beer going up? That tells me that capitalism is working here. People are figuring out ways to get more out of a barley crop, or plant barley in different places.
We’ve had climate change is killing the beer industry before. Remember how global warming was going to destroy the hops business because hops has such a narrow latitudinal range? Yeah, that’s not happening. Hop growers are investing in different strains of crops, other farmers, not in the “Hops Belt”, are experimenting with crops.
Different strains, higher yields, different geographies. These are rational approaches to natural changes. And they didn’t need to come about because some faux scientist who desperately needs funding is telling the beer business to change.
Climate alarmists are lying to you. And they think you’re too stupid to do anything without them telling you what to do.
Human beings have been adapting to changes in the environment for thousands of years. Just because somebody threatens our beer supply doesn’t change that.
Besides, we will have bigger things to worry about if the permafrost in Siberia melts. According to those scientists, we will get hit with the bubonic plague, and we’re all gonna die. Because that’s what happened in the Middle Ages. You know, that Medieval Warm Period. The one the scientists want to forget.
Sandra Peterson
Follow me on Twitter @janevonmises
Photo by Getty Images