I love it when scientists publicly refuse to play nicely with agribusiness and governments. Here’s a example from the U.K.: Eminent scientists recently resigned in protest from a steering group on genetically-modified food:
Professor Bryan Wynne… [told] the London Telegraph that the committee was rigged in favor of GM food. Professor Wynne’s resignation comes on the heels of the resignation of Dr. Helen Wallace, another member of the committee, who stepped down a week or so earlier because of the cozy relationship between GM manufacturers and the agency overseeing the group.
Economists there are telling important truths too. A recent U.N. report follows the recommendation of Lord Nicholas Stern, former adviser to the Labour government on the economics of climate change. Lord Stern stated last year that a vegetarian diet was better for the planet. The subsequent U.N. report states:
A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today. As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management.
Cool Brittania, indeed.