I must confess that I was little troubled by a UN report this week that suggested that eating more insects may be just what we need to feed the more than 9 billion people that are projected to inhabit the planet by mid-century.

Grantham's greatest concern, though far from his only one, is that the world's farmers may not be able to produce enough food at affordable prices to feed the 9 billion or so people that are projected to inhabit the planet by mid-century or sooner.

The ongoing debate over the "Age of Man" is a healthy one, but I am more concerned about what we are actually doing to mitigate and cope with the Anthropocene. And, here again, I come back to the importance of empowering women.

The extraction of oil from tar sands may help to meet our global energy needs, but it's an unmitigated disaster for the planet. Science and technology are evidenced-based. Our faith in them is not.

If we're going to address some of the biggest environmental problems we face, population has to be part of the conversation. This poll is evidence that Americans are ready to start talking about population and dealing with impacts.

How do we create prosperity for all without destroying the natural world that sustains us? We can do this, but we must first awaken to what is truly needed.

In the pursuit of more, we drain wetlands, level off mountains, harvest ancient forests, lay waste to the soil, despoil the oceans, hunt animals to extinction. It's time to consider the radical idea that our reckless and relentless pursuit of more might be yielding less happiness and satisfaction.

By the time today's over, there were will about 200,000 more people on the planet than there were yesterday. We're long past due to talk about population, consumption and a smarter way of growing and surviving on Earth.

By a variety of measures, both obvious and not so obvious, we are rapidly depleting our natural resources and overwhelming the bio-systems that sustain life on this planet.

By continuing to invest in family planning here, and investing an additional one dollar per American per year abroad, we could slow down the growth rate, reduce our own carbon emissions, help the developing world have a better quality of life and hopefully prevent a coming climate catastrophe.

On a misty autumn morning the sun's soothing rays dance through the canopies of barren trees, as I walk through the woods. A beam of light brings to f...