The average family’s weekly shopping bill has risen to £136, according to research.
The leap of nearly six per cent since the start of the year has added an estimated £500 million to the nation’s monthly groceries bill, as the cost of living continues to stretch already strained household finances.
Food is now worth more as petrol than on the table, says Chris Goodall, and the unpalatable truth is that only a long and painful attack on oil consumption will reverse the spiral in food prices.
The rising cost of foods is widely being blamed on the use of grains for biofuels, and the case for the prosecution is simply made. About 100m tonnes of maize from this year’s US crop will be diverted into ethanol refineries, an increase of a third on 2007’s figure. This means one in 20 of all cereal grains produced in the world this year will end up in the petrol tank of US cars, the country that is most aggressively increasing the use of food for fuel.
Stonehenge may have been a burial ground for an ancient royal family, British archaeologists said yesterday.
The original purpose of the stone monument in Wiltshire is one of archaeology’s most enduring enigmas. Previous theories have suggested that it was an astronomical observatory or a religious centre.
The era of cheap and plentiful food was declared at an end yesterday as a key international report issued a warning that high world food prices will continue for at least a decade.
Much bigger family food bills will remain an everyday fact of life for consumers across the West, while for poor nations permanently dearer food will spell widespread hunger, famine and civil conflict, the study from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said.
The target of halving global greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century is not enough to avoid the major impacts of climate change, scientists warned yesterday.Researchers said that the belief among political leaders that it was possible to find ways to fully avoid the serious threats of global warming was “false optimism”. More…
How two tiny glitches plunged 500,000 homes into the darkTwo relatively minor technical glitches within two minutes of each other triggered the most serious disruption to Britain’s energy supply network in more than 20 years this week.But power industry insiders said that the shutdown, which led to blackouts in as many as 500,000 homes across the country on Tuesday, could have been even worse.More…
Organically reared cows produce healthier milk says Newcastle UniversityMilk from organic cattle that eat a fresh grass diet is likely to be better for your health, according to a new study by the University of NewcastleThis organic milk contained more good fatty acids such as omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid known as CLA9 than milk produced at intensive commercial dairy farms. The difference was even more marked during the summer with levels of CLA9 about 60 per cent higher in milk from cattle that graze in fields.More…
Hundreds of native British animals and plants are being put at risk from an invasion of foreign species that thrive here because of rising global temperatures, the Government said yesterday.The spread of non-indigenous species is considered the second biggest threat to British wildlife after habitat loss and costs the economy between £2 billion and £6 billion a year.Native plants and animals, such as bluebells, red squirrels and water voles, are all under threat.More…
What causes prehistoric burial mounds gradually to disappear? What makes ruined castles and abbeys crumble? What constitutes a serious threat to a historic park or the site of a 17th century shipwreck?English Heritage is sharpening its tools for the protection of England’s heritage at risk. It is creating the first all-encompassing register of the country’s neglected or decaying historic treasures and introducing new ways to save them. Its Heritage At Risk project, to be launched on Tuesday 8 July 2008, will make England the only country in Europe to have a comprehensive knowledge of the state of its protected heritage and the analysis to save this precious and finite resource for the future.More…
Damage to forests, rivers, marine life and other aspects of nature could halve living standards for the world’s poor, a major report is to conclude.Current rates of natural decline might reduce global GDP by about 7% by 2050.The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) review is modelled on the Stern Review of climate change.More…