| Global Warming is something we all hear about. We | | | | |
| hear mention of it on the news, we see protests | | | | This study, which was funded by the National Science |
| regarding it on college campuses, and we receive | | | | Foundation, Purdue University, and NASA, took |
| messages about it in our email in-boxes. But, most of | | | | supercomputer calculations over a span of five |
| us don't really understand what it is, or we choose to | | | | months, calculating daily temperature swings contingent |
| ignore it. However, for those of us who are wine | | | | on climate-change situations, under the assumption that |
| drinkers, Global Warming is knocking so hard we are | | | | carbon dioxide levels would continue as outlined in the |
| about to have no choice but to open the cellar door. | | | | standard Global Warming scenarios (levels that warn |
| | | | gases will rise to over twice their current levels by |
| Guide to Global Warming | | | | 2100). |
| In a nutshell, Global Warming is the gradual increase of | | | | |
| the temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere. This | | | | Because the production of quality grapes is reliant on |
| warming has been increasing since the Industrial | | | | a balance of the yin and yang of mother-nature, with |
| Revolution, with the prevalence of greenhouse gases. | | | | an easily disturbed equilibrium of hot and cold being a |
| These greenhouse gases trap more heat near the | | | | major factor, the change in climate from Global |
| earth, increasing global temperatures. | | | | Warming could be detrimental to the ability to make |
| | | | quality wine. And, if the equilibrium was weighed too |
| Though Global Warming doesn't sound that bad, with | | | | heavily on one side - with weather that was too hot or |
| many people's image of it being that of a globe | | | | too cold - the ability to make grapes could disappear |
| wrapped snuggly in a warm blanket, it's something that | | | | altogether. |
| needs to be taken seriously and it's something that | | | | |
| could greatly hinder, and destroy, the future. The | | | | Why it Matters |
| feared long term impacts include melting of polar ice, | | | | No one wants to be credited as "that guy" or "that |
| causing coastal flooding and a rise in sea level; a | | | | girl" who helped destroy the earth, unleashing diseases |
| disruption in the drinking supply, with much of the water | | | | and viruses on the masses. And, no one wants to be |
| supply becoming contingent on snow melts; vast | | | | credited as helping to destroy wine vineyards, picking |
| changes of agriculture and farming, causing havoc | | | | grapes off their vines and stomping them into oblivion. |
| among the world's crop supplies; extinction of certain | | | | |
| species; and an increase in both tropical storms and | | | | Global Warming, like so many environmental threats, is |
| tropical diseases. | | | | easy to ignore: the fall out from it probably won't be |
| | | | directly felt in our lifetime. However, it will be felt in the |
| And, in regards to wine, Global Warming could lead to | | | | lifetime of our children and our grandchildren. While |
| the destruction of many of the vineyards across the | | | | some people shrug their shoulders at this notion, we |
| nation by the end of the century. | | | | must take into account this reality: if our grandparents |
| | | | left us with a destroyed world, we'd be pretty ticked |
| Affect on Wine | | | | off. And nothing, not even a hefty inheritance, could |
| A new computerized climate study recently released | | | | make up for it. |
| in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of | | | | |
| Sciences predicted that an increase in the number of | | | | What Can be Done |
| days hotter than 95 degrees during the growing | | | | There is no quick fix to stopping Global Warming, |
| season could sharply reduce the amount of areas able | | | | pulling the plug on it is a lengthy process, made up of |
| to produce vintage wine-grape production. This would | | | | extension cord after extension cord. However, there |
| also cause the elimination of vineyards nationwide and | | | | are a few things that can be done to help slow the |
| cause the vineyards capable of producing the most | | | | process, and eventually stop it altogether. |
| expensive premium wines to be cut in half. | | | | |