Photo courtesy of Crosby Hop Farm
Over the holidays, I find myself breaking into my beer cellar more than any other time of the year. I love sharing rare and interesting bottles with friends and family—young and old, from near and far—and the camaraderie and conversation sparked over brews is my favorite part of the season. Of all my holiday traditions, the sharing of beers is certainly the one I’d be most devastated to leave behind if beer became an exorbitantly expensive luxury or I lost everything in a human-caused catastrophe.
These aren’t crazy speculations on my part. Whether one believes in climate change or not, the devastating effects of these natural disasters are increasing each year. In California, temperatures have risen 3 degrees Farenheit over the past 20 years and is directly responsible for the increase in wildfires, according to National Geographic. (It’s worth pointing out that although the actual number of wildfires hasn’t risen, they’re harder to control thanks to decreasing precipitation.)
Drier conditions and increased water demand inevitably leads to agricultural strain. In less abstract terms, climate change equals more expensive beer. Scientific American predicts that the average price of beer could rise 15 percent to as much as double the current price in the next century due to climate change. Add to that fact that limited agricultural resources would be prioritized toward more crucial crops like, well, food.
Modern Times Beer isn’t stoked about this calamitous future.
“Fundamentally, we’re just fighting for our own survival, as a business and as human beings,” explained Jacob McKean, CEO/Founder of Modern Times Beer to me in an email. “Anyone who thinks the fight over climate change isn’t that type of fight is in denial.”
In December, the brewery sent a letter to six Congressmembers urging their support of the creation of a Select Committee on the Green New Deal (a progressive movement aimed at curbing economic inequality, as well as climate change). Modern Times has historically supported a number of local green initiatives like BikeSD, but McKean added that “the recent election created some serious momentum for solutions at the national scale.”
Not everyone’s thrilled with Modern Times mixing politics and beer. In response to Modern Times’ Facebook post about the letter, one commenter quipped: “Please just stick to what you know: making good beer.”
Personally, I’m betting this type of person would be the first to cry foul with any beer price increase due to raw ingredient shortages. Misguided attempts to separate business interests from human interests are ignorant at best and dangerous at worst.
The point of initiatives like these is to (hopefully) help tilt the scales in favor of a more sustainable balance between humans and the earth in order to minimize catastrophes like last year’s Camp Fire. Miniscule attempts like the plastic straw ban are admirable, but largely worthless in the long run. It takes businesses using their platforms to influence policymakers on a large scale to have any effect whatsoever. That’s why, in the New Year, I will pledge to specifically support breweries that participate in progressive movements and charitable drives (the Resilience IPA fire relief campaign is a good example). I encourage and hope every beer drinkin’ human who enjoys life on Planet Earth will join me. Our lives, and our beers, depend on it.