"Brian Wakem" wrote in message
...
Alastair McDonald wrote:

I have just enjoyed listening to and watching this pair of lectures from
the
Royal Society on the web. (There are actually two Tims giving talks.) I
think everyone would find them interesting, not just those worried about
global
warming. Bill Giles gets a mention, and Piers Corbyn has a walk on part
in the question time at the end.
http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=3135

Cheers, Alastair.


One thing that wasn't addressed (if it was I missed it) was the potential
for crop evolution to occur. As (if) temperatures rise, natural selection
will favour crops that can survive in those conditions, so is it possible
that in 100yrs time we will have wheat and barley that has evolved to grow
quite happily in the changed climate?

The problem is that if yields drop in a world with a growing population,
there will be famine and we cannot wait for crop evolution to occur.
OTOH we may be able to use genetic modification to get new varieties in
the time scales needed.

But if we employ genetic modification now, and get a universal best seed
which is used through out the world like Coca-Cola, then we could easily
end up with a disaster. Relying on only one crop was what caused the Irish
Potato Famine!

Cheers, Alastair.