A generation of treatments for diseases ranging from cancer to kidney failure might be lost unless the erosion of biodiversity in sea and on land is reversed, according to the authors of a new book. Experimental treatments can be derived from chemicals made by frogs, bears and salamanders, for example, but Sustaining Life, whose lead authors, Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, are from Harvard, warns that the rapid loss of species from pollution and climate change is threatening these efforts.

A typical product on a supermarket shelf will have had about one hundred times its own volume of waste created before it reaches the consumer, according to Forum for the Future, an environmental charity. Meeting the demand for food, water, timber and fuel has caused a terrifying spike in the amount of waste produced around the world. The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has estimated that over half of the country's household waste comes from retail and almost 30 per cent of landfill can be traced back to the five leading supermarket chains.