The global financial crisis has pushed the ranks of the hungry to a record 1 billion people, a milestone that poses a threat to peace and security, UN officials said June 19 in Rome. Due to war, drought, high food prices and poverty, hunger now affects one in six people, according to an estimate by the Food and Agriculture Organization. There are 100 million more hungry people now than last year, the agency said. It defines hunger as the consumption of fewer than 1,800 calories a day. (AP, June 19)

See our last posts on the econocatalysm and peak food.