Sustainable Brews

Don’t you like being able to find cheap beer?

Or perhaps you’re into the more expensive craft IPA’s because..

I mean, you know.

Regardless of what you pull off the shelf– bottle or can, Corona or PBR– its price and production will probably be affected by climate change.

Let’s find out why.

Barley

Grains like wheat, rye, oats, millet, rice, and corn are sometimes used in brewing, but most people use barley when it comes to beer. The barley is malted by soaking it first, then allowing it to germinate until you stop the process with heat.

The color of your beer depends on how long and at which temperature the barley was roasted. The more you roast, the darker the color.

Okay, enough about beer! Let’s talk climate change.

Yields of barley decrease dramatically in times of drought or extreme heat, so it’s looking like the beer drinkers better start caring more about global warming.

The increase in both severity and frequency of extreme weather events like droughts, heavy downpours, and heat waves are the primary way that we “experience” climate change.

Our National Climate Assessment officially states that,

“Some extreme weather and climate events have increased in recent decades, and new and stronger evidence confirms that some of these increases are related to human activities.”

A study showed that global barley yields can be expected to decline between 3% and 17% depending on the extremity of weather events. In the most severe scenario, global beer consumption would decrease by 16% on average as prices are raised by 15%, according to the study. The U.S. specifically is expected to see peer prices double as consumption reduces by 20%.

Beer isn’t the only industry that’s going to have to make some changes in order to adapt. Our entire global food system will have to be reevaluated if we want to be able to sustain the human population in a world experiencing climate change. Roughly 75% of agricultural land throughout the world is used for animal production, but meat supplies only 17% of our calories.

Clearly, the current approaches to helping people understand the severity of global warming aren’t working well enough, so maybe it’s time to shed light on a future that the beer industry might not be too excited about.

The carbon footprint of a 6-pack

A pint of local beer has a smaller carbon footprint than a mass-produced brew.

According to a comprehensive assessment of New Belgium’s Fat Tire® Amber Ale, the life-cycle of a 6-pack emits 3,118.8 grams of CO2 equivalents. To put that into perspective, consider that an average adult tree would need to work for nearly two full months absorbing CO2 at its natural rate in order to offset that amount.

Now that’s not to say you should stop drinking beer, but it’s a helpful reminder that emissions don’t just come from driving and factories. They are the result of so much of what we do each and every day, and it’s more important than ever to be aware of that right now.

Beer, just like everything else, is also being contaminated as a result of our addiction to plastic. If you’re thinking, “I’m fine. I don’t even drink beer,” don’t worry! Plastic particles were found in 12 different brands of table salt and beer as well as 159 globally sourced water samples during a study just last year. Since we are just beginning to see the long-term impacts of plastics, not enough is known about their health and environmental effects to regulate it effectively.

The bottom line is that our disregard for the environment isn’t just killing trees and raising water levels, it’s affecting every aspect of our lives whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Everyone cares about something, and that means it’s up to us to draw the ties between those things and what is happening in the world.

So, if beer is the angle you need to take to help someone care about climate change, I say go for it!

Also, don’t forget to use your purchasing power to support sustainable breweries that use innovative techniques to decrease their environmental footprints. Danish brewing giant Carlsberg introduced a new alternative to 6-pack plastic rings that minimizes waste altogether in a series of sustainability initiatives the company has been rolling out. Carlsberg 6-packs are beginning to use small adhesive dots to hold the cans together, saving more than 1,200 tons of plastic annually (the equivalent of 60 million plastic bags).

Here is a short list of some of the most sustainable breweries in the U.S. to get you started.

1. New Belgium Brewing (currently diverting 99.9% of its waste from landfills)
2. Yards Brewing Co. (the tasting room’s bar top was made from recycled bowling lanes)
3. Brooklyn Brewery (first NYC company to rely 100% on wind energy)
4. Sierra Nevada Brewing (diverting nearly 100% of its waste from landfills)

Happy sustainable drinkin’!

S.