Features

• Human Population Grows Up

  As we swell toward nine billion in the next half a century, humanity will undergo historic changes in the balance between young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural. Our choices now and in the years ahead will determine how well we cope with our coming of age

  Joel E. Cohen   | September 1, 2005  |

• How Should We Set Priorities?

  The world faces no shortage of problems--or of good ideas to solve them. Which should we tackle next? Even as leaders converge on some answers, new markets are being set up to preempt politics

  W. Wayt Gibbs   | September 1, 2005  |

• The Climax of Humanity

  Demographically and economically, our era is unique in human history. Depending on how we manage the next few decades, we could usher in environmental sustainability--or collapse

  George Musser   | September 1, 2005  | 1

• Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated?

  Market economics and globalization are lifting the bulk of humanity out of extreme poverty, but special measures are needed to help the poorest of the poor

  Jeffrey D. Sachs   | September 1, 2005  |

• More Profit with Less Carbon

  Focusing on energy efficiency will do more than protect Earth's climate--it will make businesses and consumers richer

  Amory B. Lovins   | September 1, 2005  | 1

• Sustaining the Variety of Life

  A new understanding of how species become extinct suggests how to preserve them--and at a cost that doesn't break the bank

  Stuart L. Pimm and Clinton Jenkins   | September 1, 2005  |

• Economics in a Full World

  The global economy is now so large that society can no longer safely pretend it operates within a limitless ecosystem. Developing an economy that can be sustained within the finite biosphere requires new ways of thinking

  Herman E. Daly   | September 1, 2005  |

• Public Health in Transition

  Chronic disorders such as heart disease and diabetes, once common only in the industrial nations, are now sweeping the rest of the globe. Meanwhile the threat of infectious diseases still looms large. New public health priorities are urgently needed

  Barry R. Bloom   | September 1, 2005  |

• The Big Potential of Small Farms

  With the help of affordable irrigation and access to markets, farmers in the developing world can grow more food and climb out of poverty

  Paul Polak   | September 1, 2005  |