Global food insecurity is increasing...the slim excess of growth in food production over population is narrowing.

The biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries to cause government collapse.

Nations are in effect ceding portions of their sovereignty to the international community and beginning to create a new system of international environmental governance.

Our early 21st century civilization is in trouble. We need not go beyond the world food economy to see this. Over the last few decades we have created a food production bubble-one based on environmental trends that cannot be sustained, including overpumping aquifers, overplowing land, and overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide.

We know what we have to do. And we know how to do it. If we fail to convert our self-destructing economy into one that is environmentally sustainable, future generations will be overwhelmed by environmental degradation and social disintegration. Simply stated, if our generation does not turn things around, our children may not have the option of doing so.

In today's integrated world economy, ... eradicating poverty may contribute as much to U.S. security as eradicating terrorism.

Children whose developing lungs are particularly vulnerable suffer the most from air pollution. For children, breathing the air in cities with the worst pollution, such as Beijing, Calcutta, Mexico City, Shanghai, and Tehran, is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.