Another agricultural trend of growing concern is the increased nutrient content of coastal waters resulting from fertilizer runoff in agricultural regions. Augmented by urban sewage discharge in some situations, this results in huge algal blooms, which, as they die and decay, deplete the oxygen content in the water, leading to the death of the fish.

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.

The 20th century was the time when the world turned to use of fossil fuels and the 21st century will be the century of the renewables.

The throwaway economy that has been evolving over the last half-century is an aberration, now itself headed for the junk heap of history.

Among the environmental trends undermining our future are shrinking forests, expanding deserts, falling water tables, collapsing fisheries, disappearing species, and rising temperatures. The temperature increases bring crop-withering heat waves, more-destructive storms, more-intense droughts, more forest fires, and, of course, ice melting. We are crossing natural thresholds that we cannot see and violating deadlines that we do not recognize.

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

The foundation is being laid for the emergence of both wind and solar cells as cornerstones of the new energy economy.