Shock, Horror: CO2 Crisis Hits Soccer World Cup Festivities!

Forget man-made global warming. A drastic shortage of carbon dioxide has sent the European beverage industry into a spin. Thirsty soccer World Cup fans have been warned that beer and soda pumps may soon run dry.

Yes, It’s a crazy world when politics, business and science clash. This week, as Russia hosts the month-long 2018 soccer World Cup, an audience of three billion worldwide may not all be able to enjoy their favorite carbonated drink.

European manufacturers are fast running out of that essential CO2 that gives your favorite beverage its fizz!

In the UK national press ‘Fears over World Cup beer and fizzy drink shortage after CO2 supplies run dry cross Europe’ (June 20, 2018) the ‘Mirror’ laments:

“Drinks-makers are bracing themselves for a CO2 shortage that could threaten soft and alcoholic drink production during the World Cup. One industry source described the looming shortage as the worst CO2 supply problem to hit the industry in decades.”

England fans alone are expected to buy 14 million extra pints of beer during the World Cup group stages. There are no fewer than 32 national teams in the FIFA competition, held for the first time in Russia.

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said:

“We are aware of a situation affecting the availability of CO2 across Europe, which has now started to impact beer producers in the UK.”

The dire shortage of carbon dioxide is especially bitter for British drinkers:

“In the worst case scenario, pubs could be hit by beer shortages during key England matches.”

This crisis surely demands a rapid and coordinated international solution before we reach a catastrophic tipping point. Disaster must be averted! Ban the stuff? No! Give us more!

Some Science Facts

History tells us that at least since 1767 we’ve had a real taste for carbonated drinks. So what gives us our taste for the sparkling stuff? And should we really be putting ‘carbon’ in our beverages?

The ‘Popular Science’ website tells us:

“Chemically, adding CO2 to water creates carbonic acid, which is tasted by sour-sensing taste cells. Research has suggested that a certain enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, sits on those cells and reacts with the acid to cause carbonated water’s familiar popping sensation.”

Then there’s the anti-science lobby with their political spin of trying to call CO2 “carbon,” or worse, “carbon pollution,”  which encourages people to think of it as something dirty or unhealthy.

Sober folk prefers calling CO2 by its proper name. It helps temper the vile anti-science nonsense spouted by human-hating greens.

Intoxicated on their need to ‘save the planet’  greens would rather we sequester all the CO2 out of the atmosphere and bury it deep in the ground.

Little do the naysayers seem to realize that carbon dioxide comprises two OXYGEN molecules for every SINGLE molecule of carbon (see image below).

Burying what is mainly oxygen underground? Those fanatical eco-warriors must be drunk on stupidity. Remember the nonsense of America’s prohibition era? That’s what happens when do-gooders get to run things.

But today’s party-pooping greenies are adamant they want to call time on CO2. All you beer-belching footie fans are simply bad for the planet. They say we must all go along with the claim CO2 is climate’s ‘control knob.’

However, more sober folk recognize that CO2 is really an invisible trace gas essential to plant photosynthesis, and thus to all life – party animals included!

Common sense must prevail. Give us more CO2 not less! Let’s all enjoy a tipple while watching the big game – whether the beverage is fizzy pop or an ice cool Bud!

John O’Sullivan is CEO of PRINCIPIA SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL, legally registered in the UK as a company incorporated for charitable purposes. Head Office: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX. Telephone: Calls from within the UK: 020 7419 5027. International dialling: (44) 20 7419 5027. 

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