Although NIMBYism can arise out of fear of something different in a community, it can also be the result of genuine concern for the local environment. I'd like to propose a new kind of NIMBY: Let's go green and say yes to Nature in My Backyard.

Small-scale farming, especially using "organic" methods, is much better in terms of environmental and biodiversity impact. But is it a practical way to feed seven billion people?

Reports about floods and droughts and sea ice and climate change get sandwiched between clips about scandals and celebrities, and so we view them as isolated events. An environmental perspective would consider the possibility that many of the events are connected to an underlying cause.

Instead of respecting oceans as a life-giving miracle, we often use them as vast garbage dumps and as stores with shelves that never go empty. The shelves are going empty, though. Humans are changing the chemistry and ecology of the ocean at a scale and rate not previously believed possible.