The first article that caught my eye described the recent price increases in tea - due to a lower production level in drought-ridden countries. (One reason I love BBC so much is because they have such catchy article titles. This one is called "Tea prices are surging. Is your mug next?") The article itself is interesting, and I recommend that you read it yourself... but my main concern is, naturally (selfishly) how much will this turn of events impact my tea-guzzling ways? (The next worse thing that I can think of would be a sugar shortage.)
All kidding aside, though, the real impact of this news story is to really drive home in ways that hadn't quite clicked before exactly how much things that happen elsewhere in the world can affect each and every one of us. It really is a small world, after all. Its easy to ignore the problems other people are facing - they aren't really real to us most of the time. We can't identify with them or with their various crises... and so we feel less of a need to do something about it.
Its 1:30 in the morning so I'm not going to find any kind of cool numbers or interesting facts to bombard you with - because I wanted to be asleep an hour ago. I will say this, though: its not just current weather patterns or countries not getting enough rain to grow tea. One in six people worldwide does not have access to clean drinking water. That's just ridiculous. If you are at all interested in this topic and want more information, I'll probably be going into it more in the future (when its not so late at night, perhaps). But for now, I shall direct you to one of the more compelling sites I have found. (Seriously - watch their PSA. It's only 30 seconds long, and it really gets the message across.) If after reading the information they provide, you feel the need to do something productive about it, their site can help you to accomplish that as well.
The other blurb I wanted to discuss (briefly, as I am rather sleepy now... and my computer is apparently done updating whatever it was trying to update an hour ago when I wanted to go to sleep) was a second article that BBC led me to when I finished with the first tea-related piece. It read, "Steaming hot tea linked to cancer."
Ok. I'm intrigued. I'll bite. Tell me more.
Apparently its not the tea itself, but the temperature that raises the risk of oesophageal cancer
(I really just had to write that for the British spelling - it cracks me up).
[For the record, this is an absolutely awesome super-easy conversion site for those of us who don't understand anything metric. Especially temperature.]
Alright - so the main point of this article is that drinking really hot tea (over 70 degrees Celsius - that's 158 degrees Fahrenheit) is bad for your esophagus. Surprise! Those of us who like to wait until the tea is bearable (or put milk in it to get just the right flavor as well as temperature) should be ok, since that brings it down from super-duper-owie hot to merely lukewarm (65-69 degrees Celsius/149-156 degrees Fahrenheit). Just for reference, water boils at 100 degrees Celsius/212 degrees Fahrenheit - not that you would want to pour actually-boiling water down your throat or anything.
Additionally, it matters how fast you drink your tea.
Drinking a cup of tea in under two minutes straight after it was poured was associated with a five-fold higher risk of cancer compared with drinking tea four or more minutes after being poured.
Doesn't it take that long to steep properly.... and for all of your sugar/tasty tasty bee barf (yes, I relabeled our jar of honey just this evening....why do you ask?) to mix in for that perfect cup of tea? Plus, for the first few minutes, the mug of tea is really just serving as a nice-smelling hand warmer, is it not? (Maybe that's just me. I have no idea.)
Geez, BBC - way to get me all worried that my tea habit was going to cause all sorts of serious problems down the road.
That's a terrible ending to all of this fun and thought-provoking stuff.... but in my defense, its now almost 2 am and I have been super sleepy since before I had to go to class (at 6 pm!) tonight. (Incidentlly, we were discussing sleep disorders tonight. Coincidence?)
On the plus side, I'm all sorts of excited about the challenge to blog every day in April (BEDA) ... thanks Nerdfighters for clueing me in to such a great procrastination idea! (Plus it'll probably be good for divesting myself of brain crack. Always a good thing.) I'm hoping that even if I can't manage a blog a day myself, perhaps the ever-lovely Nicole will be amenable to sharing so at least the GuardRailFail blog itself will have a daily update.
Gar - 2 am exactly. Bedtime!
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