Food crisis will take hold before climate change, warns chief scientist | Scie... - The Diigo Meta page

• 11 Mar 08
  

  Rob Lyons

  food_crisis from_delicious

• 08 Mar 08
  

  Chris Willmott

  Professor John Beddington said the global rush to grow biofuels was compounding the problem, and cutting down rainforest to produce biofuel crops was "profoundly stupid" (7th March 2008)

  bioethics biofuel news Guardian

• 07 Mar 08
  

  Nick Sage

  Environment

• 

  Shunt 82

  Food security and the rapid rise in food prices make up the "elephant in the room" that politicians must face up to quickly, according to the government's new chief scientific adviser

  environment food energy government science

• 

  Steve Leckie

  ethanol feed population food_prices

  • chief scientific adviser.

    In his first major speech since taking over, Professor John Beddington said the global rush to grow biofuels was compounding the problem, and cutting down rainforest to produce biofuel crops was "profoundly stupid".
  • in the short term, development and increasing wealth would add to the food crisis. "Once you move to [an income of] between £1 a day and £5 a day you get an increase in demand for meat and dairy products ... and that generates a demand for additional grain." Above £5 a day, people begin to demand processed and packaged food, which entails greater energy use. About 2.7bn people in the world live on less than £1 a day.
  • increased purchasing power would lead to greater pressure on food supplies. Global grain stores are currently at the lowest levels ever, just 40 days from running out.

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