Toast Ale has released a new beer — a low-alcohol Raspberry Sour — to mark Earth Overshoot Day 2021.
Toast Ale’s Raspberry Sour, a collaboration with Rubies in the Rubble. Photograph: Toast Ale
The date, revised each year, is the point when humanity’s use of natural resources exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. This year it falls on 29th July, tied with 2019 as the joint earliest yet since it was first measured in the 1970s.
Toast has collaborated with food waste fighting Rubies in the Rubble to produce the beer. It’s brewed with surplus fresh bread and wonky raspberries that would otherwise be wasted.
The beer is part of Toast’s Rise Up series that’s raising awareness of the impact of the food system on people and the planet in the lead up to the COP26 global climate talks, later this year. This collab focuses on our climate, and the opportunity to tackle the crisis by reducing food waste.
Food production is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, the biggest contributor to climate change. Yet one-third of food is wasted. If we halve food waste (in line with Sustainable Development Goal 12.3), we can move the date of Earth Overshoot Day by 13 days. If we also choose plant-based food and foods grown with agroecological and regenerative practices, we could further move Earth Overshoot Day by 19 days.
Beer lovers can do their bit by enjoying a pint of this 0.5% ABV beer, with all profits going to Toast’s charity partner, Feedback. People can also write to their MPs (there’s an easy-to-use form at toastale.com/riseup) to ask for food to be put on the agenda at COP26.
Louisa Ziane, Toast’s co-founder and chief operating officer, said: “Changing the way we eat and how much food we waste are the biggest opportunities to respond to the climate crisis. Yet the way we produce and consume food isn’t even on the agenda at COP26.
“Earth Overshoot Day is a reminder that the Earth can’t sustain current levels of resource consumption. With four months until the critical climate talks in Glasgow, world leaders still have time to take action. In the meantime, we want to show that businesses can collaborate to do our bit … and have fun doing so.”
Jenny Costa, founder and chief executive of Rubies in the Rubble, added: “Why is our food system not a focal topic in our plans to combat global warming?
“Goal 12 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, responsible consumption and production, sits at the heart of what this collaboration between Rubies in the Rubble and Toast Ale is about. We’re proud to feature as part of Toast’s Rise Up series, and urge governments and businesses to join together to make change.”
• Toast Ale is pouring with Beerhunter at the Manchester Craft Beer Festival this weekend, and will also be at the BrewLDN festival from 29th-31st May.
