Being it weekend and all, I’d like to introduce you to a totally carbon neutral beer. The Cascade Green is made by the Cascade Brewery in Tasmania, using Tasmanian ingredients wherever possible. The beer is also low on carbs (go figure).

100 percent carbon neutral

My favorite are the ants marching over the screen. And as for beer, well, I’ll take a Bass Pale Ale.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Penny Wong, the Minister for Climate Change, plans to spend 10 million AUD (approx. 6,5 million USD) to look at what will happen to human health as temperatures rises due to global warming.

“By 2020, for example, the number of heat-related deaths in our capital cities is projected to double to about 2300 a year. We are likely to see more food-safety related illness and dengue fever is likely to spread southwards.”

As far as I understand, there is no vaccine for dengue. The best prevention is to avoid getting bitten by a mosquito. Now, how much does a mosquito net cost? 1 USD? Why not try preventing future outbreaks instead of spending millions on studying rather obvious facts?

Panic is expected in pubs as a decline in the production of malting barley in Australia and New Zealand hits breweries. The decline is due to extensive drought, according to Jim Salinger of New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

“Most areas in Australia where malting barley is cropped are likely to experience production declines,” Salinger said, adding: “It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up.”

The nation with the highest beer per capita consumption in the world could face a beer deficit in future as the effects of climate change take their toll, it is claimed.

It seems that climate change has also made the news well run dry.

Australian ABC News reports today that Dr James Hansen has sent a letter to Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urging him to stop the mining and exports of coal. Australia is one of the world’s biggest coal producers. However, both India and China produce more coal than the Aussies. China is the world leader with 2.4 Mt, eight times as much as Australia’s output. But I guess they are pardoned being in need of fast development.

Coal is Australia’s largest commodity export and a vital national resource. It provides 85 percent of Australia’s electricity production. So what James Hansen is suggesting is practically a total blackout of the Land Down Under.