Coconut Palm (© Vilis Nams)
After dawn, I ran a dozen kilometres beneath an overcast sky, wishing for the cool freshness of days gone by. Urged on by the Ross River Knights and the shrill squawks of rainbow lorikeets, which today sounded like cheers, I followed the Ross River Parkway from Rosslea to the bridge over Nathan Street, and then ran home on the opposite side of the river. Caught behind cloud, the sun was a laggard spilling its heat over the river and parkway, for which I was thankful. With the forecast high for today stretching up to 28°C, it seems that Townsville’s winter is already – much sooner than I expected – edging toward spring.
Perhaps this is a sign that 2010, like 2009, will be one of the hottest years on record in Australia. Yesterday morning, ABC Radio AM correspondent Lisa Millar reported results released in a document compiled by the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association which indicated that in 2009 Australia experienced its second hottest year in a hundred years of record-keeping.1 The past year saw three severe heat waves strike the country, one of them concurrent with the Black Saturday bushfires that killed 173 people in Victoria.1 Two states – New South Wales and South Australia – reported 2009 as their hottest recorded year, while temperatures exceeded normal values across much of the rest of the country.1 A quick look at some temperature statistics for the Townsville Airport showed me that the average high and low temperatures for May, June, and July of 2010 exceeded those of averages compiled for those months over the past 68 years.2 It looks like North Queensland, and perhaps all of Australia, may be in for another year of record heat.
In addition to creating environmental, health, and economic difficulties, the increasing temperatures associated with global warming – which appear to be very pronounced in Australia – have struck at the core of a product dear to the hearts of many Australians – beer. The threat to beer lies in the decreased availability of hops, which grow only at certain latitudes3 (in March, Vilis and I saw the hop harvest underway in Tasmania at about 42°S latitude). Hops are blessed with compounds called iso-alpha-acids, which impart to beer its characteristic bitter taste.3 However, during the last 50-plus years, as reported in an article in Townsville’s CityLife Magazine, hops have been producing not only less iso-alpha-acids, but also smaller crops, creating worldwide shortages of this brewing necessity.3 The reason? Rising environmental temperatures have induced hop plants to germinate and flower earlier, causing reduced crop yields and quality.3
But never fear, Australians. Hop geneticists are hard at work creating hybrid varieties to sustain the brewing industry.3 If I were a drinking woman, I’d raise a glass to that.
References:
1. Lisa Millar, ABC News AM. Climate check-up ‘screams world is warming up.’ Thursday, July 29, 2010. Updated 29-Jul-2010, 11:08 a.m. Accessed 2-Aug-2010. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/29/2967433.htm
2. The Weather Co. Weatherzone. Townsville Ap Daily Summaries. © 2010. http://www.weatherzone.com.au/station.jsp?lt=site&lc=32040&list=ds&of=of_a&ot=ot_a&mm=01&yyyy=2010&sub=go
3. Andrew Gaudi, Breweries Australia. Climate Changing Beer. CityLife Magazine Townsville, August 2010, p. 32.
