Despite global population growth and economic crisis, absolute poverty – the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day – is falling in every region of the world.
Efforts to stem global warming have nurtured a strong urge worldwide to deploy renewable energy.
One of the world's biggest green-energy public-policy experiments is coming to a bitter end in Germany, with important lessons for policymakers elsewhere.
Dressing up failure as victory has been integral to climate-change negotiations since they started 20 years ago. The latest round of talks in Durban, South Africa, in December was no exception.
Nowadays, no hurricane or heat wave passes without a politician or activist claiming it as evidence of the need for a global climate deal, like the one that just got postponed until the end of the decade in Durban, South Africa.
Thirty years after the discovery of HIV/AIDS, we have seen impressive scientific and policy advances. But HIV/AIDS remains a daily threat to millions, stunts development, and destroys far too many lives.
Let's be clear: we do need to tackle climate change. But this does not mean that we should just cut all emissions. Burning fossil fuels also has significant benefits, and we should weigh those benefits against the costs.
Whenever opposite political forces attract, as activists and big business have in the case of global warming, there is a high risk that the public interest will be caught in the middle. That, in a nutshell, is the story of the rise of "renewable" energy.
Overall, the Millennium Development Goals improved the planet. But when we set new goals in 2015, we will need to be much more honest about focusing on areas where we can achieve the most good.
Turmoil across the Middle East and Northern Africa has refocused attention on the impact that political tensions or interference can have on the price and availability of energy imports.
Decommissioning nuclear reactors may make us feel safer, but we should acknowledge that this will often mean more deaths, both from coal extraction and air pollution.
Spectators at February's Daytona 500 in Florida were handed green flags to wave in celebration of the news that the race's stock cars now use gasoline with 15% corn-based ethanol.
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