According to the BBC, the Brazilian government announced on the 24^th of January that there has been a marked increase in the rate of deforestation in the Amazon over the last five months of 2007, with some 1,250 sq miles lost. A spokesman for an institute that provides satellite imaging of the area said the rate of loss was unprecedented for the time of year. Officials say rising commodity prices are encouraging farmers to clear more land to plant crops such as soybeans.
 

That’s where we are today. Garrett Hardin titled one of his famous essays “Nobody ever dies of overpopulation.” We have famines and failed states, deforestation and desperate poverty, war and terrorism.

So what can science – and scientists and engineers – do?