In the United States, we do a pretty good job of protecting iconic landscapes and postcard views, but the ocean gets no respect.

Drill everything, mine everything, roll back regulations, tweak the science, expedite permits. Sound familiar? The Republicans offer up more 19th-Century solutions to our 21st-Century energy problems.

The biggest tab the public picks up for fossil fuels has to do with what economists call 'external costs,' like the health effects of air and water pollution.

Nowhere has the political power of coal been more obvious than in presidential campaigns.

The climate is changing. That's not the debate. The debate is how do we know what the ideal surface temperature is in 2100?

I feel like I'm nothing without wildlife. They are the stars. I feel awkward without them.

I'm against unanswerable concentrations of power, whether that be government or private industry or religious figures - anybody who is not accountable to the larger social climate or society for the power they wield, that concerns me. I'm very pro-democracy.

Some global hazards are insidious. They stem from pressure on energy supplies, food, water and other natural resources. And they will be aggravated as the population rises to a projected nine billion by mid-century, and by the effects of climate change. An 'ecological shock' could irreversibly degrade our environment.