This morning on the way to work I was listening to Science Friday, my favorite NPR broadcast, and the topic was a huge one: environmental and social problems brought on by consumption and the world's current economic situation. This subject is made up of so many smaller, equally important subjects; it makes the mind reel. Yet, having the many problems at hand laid out on the table all at once is good for giving a general perspective of just how much trouble we're in.

There was talk of environmental wastefulness and destruction, something we have been hearing about for at least my entire lifetime, and how the current American administration has largely ignored environmental issues until recently. They touched on the problem of having starving populations, yet spiking food prices by putting our edibles in our gas tanks. There was also the point that the amount of money alloted for research into sustainability and eco-friendly economics is about as much as is spent in Iraq every 2 weeks. The point of the broadcast was very simple: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. These researchers need funding much more than wars need guns, because a war won't save the world... but science might if we can give them enough time to prepare.

Although I would like to write more, Ira Flato and Jeffrey Sachs explain it all much better than I ever could. The link is below. I urge you to listen, at least to the first 10 minutes. You should know what we are all up against.