Who the Hell is Jeffrey Sacks?

Well, nobody actually asked that question, but this should answer it nonetheless. If you listen to his lecture in the preceding post (and I really do encourage you to wade through it) and ponder the implications of what he’s saying, it speaks to some fairly significant and quite profound “meta” problems that we’re facing at the moment — all of which are interrelated…the concept of economic improvement and the exponential growth of global population; the shift in worldwide demographics; the relentless depletion of finite natural resources; and, the inexorable environmental consequences of all of the foregoing.

So one has to ask… why aren’t we hearing about any of this from our political elite? (Except, arguably from the late, lamented John Edwards, but that was a bit different...) Yes, we are getting tiresome platitudes about the need for some kind of vague “change” together with the old familiar nostrums about family values, tax cuts, terrorism and the sort of thinking that barely extends beyond the tips of their noses (or the next electoral term), but where is the "big picture" in all of this?