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The U.S. environmental movement is failing - by any measure, the state of the earth has never been more dire. What's needed, a leading environmentalist writes, is a new, inclusive green politics that challenges basic assumptions about consumerism and unlimited growth. by james gustave speth A specter is haunting American environmentalism - the specter of failure. All of us who have been part of the environmental movement in the United States must now face up to a deeply troubling paradox: Our environmental organizations have grown in strength and sophistication, but the environment has continued to go downhill, to the point that the prospect of a ruined planet is now very real. How could this have happened?

The world is finally doing something about climate change. People are changing their light bulbs and buying hybrid vehicles. Renewable energy is gaining ground. But is this enough? Policy-makers insist that environmental responsibility not come at the expense of economic growth. Massive populations in China and India are playing catch-up with America's consuming and polluting ways. And on a planet biologists believe can only support a few billion humans over the long haul, our population is near seven billion and continuing to rise. Will our efforts to save the planet be nullified by our worship of growth?

The Age recently had an article on the emerging practice of "guerilla gardening", taking a look at the "Gardening guerillas in our midst". This concept seems to have steadily increased in popularity in recent years (admittedly from a very low base) as the permaculture movement's ideas have been propagated through the community. Unlike the usual approach taken when trying to grow food in the suburbs - converting spare land on your own property (as discussed by aeldric previously and, more recently, in Jeff Vail's series on A Resilient Suburbia) - guerilla gardening involves cultivating any spare patch of urban land that isn't being used for another purpose, which could provide a substantial addition to the food growing potential of suburbia.

Fast Company says "Massive investments in clean energy promise to keep farmers, urban planners, and green-tech entrepreneurs in business for the next decade" and lists their pick of the new green jobs that will be created - Ten Best Green Jobs for the Next Decade. "It's time to bail out the people and the planet," says Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. We agree, and this guide to to sustainability-focused career paths will help retrofit and solar-charge your work life. Farmer America has only two million farmers, and their average age is 55. Since sustainable agriculture requires small-scale, local, organic methods rather than petroleum-based machines and fertilizers, there is a huge need for more farmers -- up to tens of millions of them, according to food guru Michael Pollan. Modern farmers are small businesspeople who must be as skilled in heirloom genetics as marketing. ...

The challenges our society faces with depleted energy resources, water shortages, soaring food costs all point to environmental solutions.