Last week at the G8 summit in Japan, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Britons had to stop wasting food in an era of increasing food prices. The average household in the UK bins £8 worth of food every week, which adds £420 to the food bill every year. Mr Brown’s call came in the midst of a nationwide discussion whether the UK should give green light to
GM crops in order to address possible food shortages in the future.
(Source: MTI)
A Cabinet Office report has shown that 40% of food harvested in developed countries will never be consumed due to inefficient processing, transport and storage. British high street retailers are very aware of the problem and are keen to address them whilst becoming green through decreased waste output and
emissions.
Biofuel, an alternative to fossil-based fuels like petrol, adds to the problem because it uses energy contained in organic matter, such as corn or sugarcane. The heavily subsidised biofuel industry diverts land from food production and channels money from supporting the malnourished in African and Asian
countries, such as Ethiopia and Indonesia.
The UN food price crisis summit in Rome identified bioenergy and high oil prices as the causes behind the global food price spikes which have led to political unrest in 30 countries worldwide.
Vocabulary
famine – éhínség
soar – emelkedik
crops – termény
shortage – hiány
harvest – arat
emission – kibocsátás
fossil-based fuel – szénhidrogén alapú üzemanyag
sugarcane – cukornád
malnourished – alultáplált
price spike – magas ár, árrobbanás
