In the April 21, 2010 edition of Metro, Avator director, James Cameron, says Alberta's tarsands are a "black eye" to his native country's image as an environmental leader. James Cameron questions why Canada is spending billions on extracting crude oil instead of pursuing sustainable options.  "Those same areas are a great wind belt and we could be generating...wind energy out of the same place." 

Lester R. Bown, author of Plan B 4.0:  Mobilizing to Save Civilization concurs, saying, "In contrast to investing in new oil fields where well yields begin to decline in a matter of decades, or in coal mines where the seams run out, these new energy sources can last forever."

People expect their governments to provide food security.  Indeed, the inability to do so is one of the hallmarks of a failing state.  Our early twenty-first century civilization is showing signs of stress and individual countries compete not only for scarce food but also for the land and water to produce it. (Adapted from Synchronicity, April/May 2010).

"The world is entering a new food era, one marked by rising food prices, growing numbers of hungry people (1 billion in 2009) and emerging politics of food scarcity. As grain-exporting couontries restrict or even ban exports to keep domestic food prices from spiraling out of control, importing countries are losing confidence in the market's ability to supply their needs.  In response, the more affluent ones such as Saudi Arabia, China and South Korea are leasing and buying large tracts of land in developing countries on which to grow food for themselves."

"It is decision time", says Brown.  "Like earlier civilizations that got into environmental trouble (the Sumerians and the Mayans), we have to make a choice.  We can stay with business as usual and watch our economy decline and our civilization unravel, or we can adopt Plan B and be the generation that mobilizes to save civilization.  Our generation will make the decision, but it will affect life on earth for all generations to come."