This annual volume shows key trends that should be integrated into the planning of our global future. It enables readers to track key indicators that show social, economic and environmental progress, or the lack of it, into 45 vital signs of our time. Each trend is presented as an overview using both text and graphics.

This ninth annual edition of Vital Signs takes the world's pulse by compiling a wide-ranging collection of trends that identify both problems and progress in the quest for a sustainable society. It highlights both alarming situations and encouraging developments. Part One is a comprehensive presentation of the key indicators in areas such as food, agriculture, energy, atmosphere, economics, transport and the military. Part Two provides in-depth special feature articles on: environmental fe...

The news is perplexing. Both the president and vice president of the United States have fallen ill with mysterious, flu-like symptoms. It is not long before both me receive the same devastating diagnosis: pancreatic cancer. But that is not the worst of it. Soon, many in Congress and the Supreme Court start to exhibit the same symptoms. In less than four months, the president is dead, the vice president is barely hanging onto life, and one-third of Congress is deceased. Unfortunately, the U...

Citizens expect their governments to lead on sustainability. But from largely disappointing international conferences like Rio II to the U.S.’s failure to pass meaningful climate legislation, governments’ progress has been lackluster. That’s not to say leadership is absent; it just often comes from the bottom up rather than the top down. Action—on climate, species loss, inequity, and other sustainability crises—is being driven by local, people’s, women’s, and grassroots movements around th...