When we seed millions of acres of land with these plants, what happens to foraging birds, to insects, to microbes, to the other animals, when they come in contact and digest plants that are producing materials ranging from plastics to vaccines to pharmaceutical products?

Rifkin has also advised Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain during its presidency of the European Union. Rifkin presented the European Union's long term economic development plan to transition the European economy into the Third Industrial Revolution era.

Rifkin's work explores the potential impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy the workforce society and the environment. Jeremy Rifkin (born January 26 1945) is an American economist writer public speaker political advisor and activist.