Matt Ridley to Present Optimistic View of Growing World Population, Predicted to Reach 9 Billion by 2050

Ridley speaks at Manhattan Club on Tuesday, November 15, 6 p.m., in the closing keynote address of Feeding the World Conference. Event is free. Registration is required.

NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Matt Ridley will present the keynote closing keynote address at a conference titled "Feeding the World." The conference is one of the Chemical Heritage Foundation's events celebrating the International Year of Chemistry (IYC 2011). The event begins at 1 p.m. on November 15 with two panel discussions moderated by Andrew Revkin of the New York Times' Dot Earth Blog. Ridley's talk begins at 6 p.m. The conference and the keynote are free and open to the public. Registration is required.

Organized by the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF), "Feeding the World" brings together experts from the worlds of industry, academia, and policy to share insights into how we can live well when a projected 9 billion people inhabit the earth in 2050.

"The world population is passing the seven billion mark this month," said Thomas R. Tritton, president and CEO of CHF. "At the close of the International Year of Chemistry, we want to look squarely at one of the greatest challenges we face and discuss the best ideas for a better future."

Conference Plan/Participants

Feeding the World begins with an opening address at 1 p.m. by Calestous Juma, professor at Harvard University and author of The New Harvest - Agricultural Innovation in Africa.

At 1:30 p.m. the first panel will examine "Challenges to Feeding the World," including population growth, the limits of arable land, the nutritional content of food supplies, the emerging global middle class, food distribution/spoilage, water supplies, and societal education/approval.

The Panelists:
Calestous Juma – Professor of the Practice of International Development and Director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project, Harvard University, and author of The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa

Prabhu Pingali – Deputy Director, Agricultural Development, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Gary Toenniessen – Managing Director, The Rockefeller Foundation

Jay Vroom – President and CEO, CropLife America

At 3:30 p.m., the second panel will discuss "Promises of Technology," that is, how science and technology can work to overcome the challenges identified in the earlier panel.

The Panelists:
Nina Fedoroff – Professor, Penn State University

Antonio Galindez – President and CEO, Dow AgroSciences

Rik Miller – President, DuPont Crop Protection

Paul Rea – Vice President of Business Development, BASF Crop Protection USA.

Each panel will be moderated by Andrew Revkin, the New York Times journalist who blogs at Dot Earth.

At 6 p.m. Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, will deliver the keynote address.

This event is made possible with generous support from:

• BASF Corporation
• The Dow Chemical Company
• DuPont
• Sumitomo Chemical America, Inc.

About the Chemical Heritage Foundation
The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) fosters an understanding of chemistry's impact on society. An independent nonprofit organization, CHF strives to:

• Inspire a passion for chemistry;
• Highlight chemistry's role in meeting current social challenges; and
• Preserve the story of chemistry and its technologies and industries across centuries.

CHF maintains major collections of instruments, fine art, photographs, papers, and books. The Foundation hosts conferences and lectures, support research, offer fellowships, and produce educational materials. Its museum and public programs explore subjects ranging from alchemy to nanotechnology.

For more information, please visit chemheritage.org.

CONTACT: Neil Gussman, +1-717-314-2494, [email protected] \

SOURCE Chemical Heritage Foundation