Commentary upon the Common Wealth

Suprise, suprise, the world has a problem...and it is malignant. In a refreshing approach however Jeffrey D. Sachs, in his book Common Wealth, Economics for a Crowded Planet, does not herald immanent doom for humanity at large but rather an identification of the six unprecedented earth-changing trends and what their existence means for humanity now and in the future.

He even goes as far as to suggest possible counteraction to the earth's depleting condition through processes based upon sustainable development, meaning "prosperity that is globally shared and environmentally sustainable". (31) Environmental sustainability, population stabilization, and ending extreme poverty are all on Sach's To-Do-List.

In the process of accounting the world's game strategy to the face lift, Sach traces what brought the world to it's present condition, and while this may be irrevelant to many out there the most amusing moment came at this, one of his many observations; "The decisive breakthrough in human populations came not with fire, but with the invention of agriculture." (58) How very melodramatic. I for one had always imagined the magical moment of one lone mountain man crouched over a pile of twigs, after hours upon hours finally seeing that spark, and as it lands, the world brightens and the eternal winter of Narnia is over and everything rolls from stone age onwards...