It takes 1,000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain. As water becomes scarce and countries are forced to divert irrigation water to cities and industry, they will import more grain. As they do so, water scarcity will be transmitted across national borders via the grain trade. Aquifer depletion is a largely invisible threat, but that does not make it any less real.

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.

Our numbers expand, but Earth's natural systems do not.

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

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

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. World wind generating capacity grew from 7,600 megawatts in 1997 to 9,600 in 1998, an expansion of 26 percent. At a national level, Germany led the way, adding 790 megawatts of capacity, followed by Spain with 380 megawatts, and the United States with 226 megawatts. In the past, U.S. wind generating capacity was concentrated in California, but in 1998, wind farms began generating electricity in Minnesota, Oregon, and Wyoming, broadening the new industry's geographical base.