The recent upward surge in commodities prices has left no corner of the globe untouched. That includes the bastions of the beer drinkers.

Changes in global climate, a decline in hops growers and a recent fire in a hops storage facility have worked in concert to reduce the world supply of that most important of beer brewing ingredients. According to a story published by Wired, these events have breweries both large and small adjusting their beer making processes and ingredients in an effort to curb rising brewing costs. The Wired story quotes brew master Donald Gortemiller as saying, "When hops were $2 a pound, compared to $20 or $30 a pound now, it didn't matter. We'd throw them into the boil at various times. That was an inaccurate way of doing things. We're modifying recipes and using about 20 percent less hops."

Walletpop blogger extraordinaire, Bruce Watson recently brought to light the mounting concern over hops deficiencies in the brewisphere. He wrote: "I imagine that the hot nights of a post-global warming future will be particularly unbearable without the benefit of a nice cold one." Bruce has vowed to do everything he can to "Save the Ales." For my part, I have chosen an alternate strategy to Bruce's proactive beer saving efforts. I have surrendered my boarding pass to what was for me; "The one way aluminum train to Stupidville."

Believe me when I say that my self imposed abstinence from beer will leave plenty of the cold foamy beverages for the rest of you to share and enjoy. Let's just hope that the remaining hops growers are the people who are benefiting from these unfortunate beer ingredient price increases.

I try not to be too much of a global warming preacher. In my personal life, I recycle, walk a lot, take public transportation, and generally do everything in my power to reduce my energy usage. However, there are few things that annoy me more than holier-than-thou eco-Nazis, and I decided a long time ago that I would never, ever become one of them. I refuse to lecture people about light bulbs, yell at them for throwing away recyclables, make snotty comments when they keep the fridge open for too long, or pick up any of the other endearing little habits that dedicated green warriors seem inclined to inflict upon the rest of us.

Part of the reason that I don't like talking about global warming is the fact that it's somewhat difficult to explain its effects. Frankly, there seems to be a rejoinder for every argument against global warming: as people often point out, summers that are a couple of degrees hotter don't seem like that much of a big deal, unless you're a kid or a really old person. For that matter, while rising water due to the destruction of the polar icecaps will be a really big problem for people in coastal regions, most of the world isn't coastal. Beyond that, the death of thousands of different species of aquatic life isn't really all that big a deal, unless you're a really big fan of fish; for the rest of us, there will always be cows, chickens, pigs, deer, and other land-based life forms that we can consume.

However, I recently discovered something that beautifully illustrates the dangers of global warming, a far-reaching, catastrophic problem that affects every one of us, and my just be the key to explaining why green living is so important:

GLOBAL WARMING IS DESTROYING BEER.

Earlier today, reported CNN and a slew of other media outlets, a giant slab of ice in Antarctica collapsed -- and by giant, we're talking a piece of ice that's nine times the size of Manhattan.

But fear not, there is some promising business news to be had from a situation like this, if we assume what's good news for the North Pole is also good for the South. According to a story in today's Vancouver Sun, the melting ice fields are making the northern seas a more attractive place to drill for oil.

In recent years, Russia, Norway, Denmark and America have all been jockeying to dominate the Arctic Ocean's oil industry. There's even a company called the Arctic Oil & Gas Company. As its CEO Peter Sterling recently stated in comments picked up by this press release, "We are fortunate to live in a time where technology is catching up with our aspirations. Today, offshore technology can cope with weather conditions and other environmental challenges that would have been impossible two decades ago. Fortunately, we at Arctic Oil & Gas live at the right time in science, technology, and history, and we expect our company and its shareholders to benefit greatly as a result."

And so if the ice keeps melting at the bottom of the Earth, maybe Antarctica can be our next oil frontier. Why does everything going on with our oil industry and the melting glaciers sort of remind me of the plot of that global warming, apocalyptic movie, The Day After Tomorrow?

Of course, this good business news may someday be considered bad business news, if Manhattan is ever ankle-deep in water thanks to melting glaciers. I wonder how many oil executives live in Manhattan.

Geoff Williams is a business journalist and the author of C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America (Rodale).