Think global warming is wrecking the world? You haven't heard the half of it. Climate change is bad news for everything from Bulgarian brothels to baseball bats to beer -- or so some people and news outlets would have you believe.

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"Brothel owners in Bulgaria are blaming global warming for staff shortages. They claim their best girls are working in ski resorts because a lack of snow has forced tourists to seek other pleasures."

-- METRO, A BRITISH NEWSPAPER, MARCH 2007

"[T]he future of the ash tree is in doubt because of a killer beetle and a warming climate, and with it, the complicated relationship of the baseball player to his bat."

-- NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE ABOUT ASH TREES, WHOSE WOOD IS USED TO MAKE BASEBALL BATS, JULY 2007

"Beer will be [in] short supply, more expensive and may taste different as climate change affects barley production, a scientist says."

-- NEWS.COM.AU, AN AUSTRALIAN WEBSITE, APRIL 2008

"Climate change could be about to claim a new victim -- the fashion industry. Designers and industry experts fear that the traditional seasonal collections which have formed the backbone of the business may become meaningless due to [the] increasing unpredictability of the weather."

-- THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, OCTOBER 2007

"More Americans are likely to suffer from kidney stones in the coming years as a result of global warming, according to researchers at the University of Texas."

-- AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, JULY 2008

"Climatic changes could lead to more outbreaks of bubonic plague among human populations, a study suggests."

-- BBC NEWS, AUGUST 2006

"Global warming has added an extra layer of anxiety to what people are already feeling."

-- SANDY SHULMIRE, A PSYCHOLOGIST AND PRACTITIONER OF ECOPSYCHOLOGY, QUOTED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, FEBRUARY 2008

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