Hebe's Empty Chalice

Now here's a bit of global warming coming soon to a ritual circle near you. Or at least over the next 25 years. As the climate changes over the next quarter century, the Goddess will be pouring out less and less American wine from her chalice, as hotter temperatures in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys cause the vine's photosynthesis to shut down and the sugars in the grapes to break down. Meaning the crop will spoil before it gets to the wine cellar.

The rise in global temperatures of just one degree since 1900 has already extended the growing season by a month. The climate model on the effects of global warming is only calculated for the U.S. grape harvest, but as the effects of human-caused climate change span the whole globe, it's a sure bet this effect will be seen in Chile, as it is already devestating grape harvests in Spain. In Germany, long traditional German whites are produced less and less as the sugar content of the grapes has increased over the past generation. Even in the U.S. the climate shift will increase temperatures in the Northwest and Northeast vineyards, where the humidity will increase the occurance of fungus- which will in turn wipe out those cooler climate grape crops.

Which gets me around to the chalice of the Goddess, which I will use to poke all of you dear readers to consider the ways that the little mundane things you do will have a real effect on your fellow pagans and their ritual circles in the years to come. In ways that can't be made up by sending me warm fuzzy energy balls. This year your ritual circle or even in your solitary practice you will still be able to uncork a bottle of wine for cakes and ale, and pour out joy and mirth. Yet in years to come, Hebe's cup may run dry as wine becomes too expensive and too rare. Should that be what shall come to pass?

The news gets an oh-so-very interesting spin on Fox of course, where for some reason at the end of the article there's a reason to bring up Vikings. These trepid explorers named northern Canada Vineland over Hostile-Native-People Land in order to attract more settlers at a time when the earth was also slightly warmer. Fox goes on to point out that there had been lousy grapes in England then, which were wiped out by the Little Ice Age, and now there are lousy grapes in England again. Right over to the right of the story is a videoblog by Sen. Inhofe calling global warming a hoax. Oh really now. Too bad global warming will never put industrial whine on the endangered species list.

Technorati Tags:global warming, wicca, witchcraft, paganism, witch, pagan