on the topic of environmental awareness

[Nev]

http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx

major study by the UN finds significant degradation in ecosystem services.

I didn't look too in depth, but basically the gist is that while certain services (as I understand the concept, it's basically a part of the ecosystem that provides something to some other part of it) have increased substantially - mostly the ones that provide humans with their most primary needs for living - many of the others have degraded in response.

i generally don't like to doomsay and in general i don't feel that the planet is doing too badly. however, i think the possibility to make it even better makes this definitely worth a look.

[ManaMan]

I think that they did a very good job with that study showing how large a part the environment plays in our economy... Hopefully this will have a much greater affect on the pro-business conservatives who currently control the US government than the usual environmental reports do.

They certainly know their audience.