As someone who’s spent a great deal of time in wilderness areas, I’m concerned, perhaps more than many, about climate change. I live in the Sonoran Desert where drought and wildfires have sadly become the norm. I’m also a scuba diver and sometimes mourn when I find myself hovering above a dead reef, the coral ghostly white, absent of any fish or other sea life.

I mention these things because I am astonished by how many people seem to believe that our climate is not changing. But now, I think I have a way to get the naysayers on board.

Beer.

Yep, our shifting climate may soon affect our ability to acquire a nice cold brew, a thought that just might send a bolt of terror through the spines of many beer aficionados and push them to advocate for tackling climate change.

It seems that the warming climate is altering our ability to grow the crops needed to make beer. According to the Associate Press article, “Safeguarding beer against climate change,” “Climate change is anticipated to only further the challenges producers are already seeing in two key beer crops, hops and barely. Some hops and barley growers in the U.S. say they’ve already seen their crops impacted by extreme heat, drought and unpredictable growing seasons.”

Now, for those of you snooty beer folks who buy imported versions of the beverage, stop feeling so smug, because the same issues befalling U.S. producers are also affecting European beer makers, people who are already working on crops that can withstand hotter summers, problems associated with less winter snow that affects water sources, and combating the changing diseases and pests that come with a warming climate.

At last count, 35% of Americans drink beer, which means that roughly 100 million of us enjoy a bubbly brew now and then. It might surprise you to know that people in China consume even more beer than we do. I mention this because the U.S. and China are the top greenhouse gas producers in the world. Which has me wondering what might happen if all the world’s beer drinkers—people who down about 50 billion gallons of beer annually—might consider joining hands, singing Kumbaya, and coming up with some options to stall climate change, if for no other reason than protecting the crops that produce the frothy beverage we love.

I believe that people might be more willing to fight climate change if they can see the effects of the problem directly. So I ask you now to picture empty beer shelves when you make that weekend run before kick off. Or standing empty-handed after that long, tough hike through the woods. Or sitting at a baseball game sans that comforting cry: “Get yer cold beer here!”

Think about it, people. No beer!

Now, let’s get to work.

Anne Montgomery’s novels can be found wherever books are sold.

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