One of the most basic facts of life is that the future looks different from the past. But on a grand cosmological scale, they may look the same

Can one person slow global warming? Actually, yes. You—along with scientists, businesses and governments—can create paths to cut carbon emissions. Here is our guide to some of the planet's best ideas.

Want to wreck the environment? Have a baby. Each bundle of joy gobbles up more of the planet's food, clogs garbage dumps with diapers, churns through plastic toys and winds up a gas-guzzling, resource-consuming grown-up like the rest of us. Still, babies are awfully cute. Given that most people still intend to procreate, what's an environmentally conscious parent to do?

Only very recently have we been forced to work from 8 to 5, and to go to school and follow a very rigid class schedule. Only very recently have we become obsessed with tracking and making use of every minute, so that we have things to do when we’re waiting for other things to happen.

"A simple life has a different meaning and a different value for every person. For me, it means eliminating all but the essential, eschewing chaos for peace, and spending your time doing what’s important to you."

Our fifth annual list of the world's most influential people: leaders, thinkers, heroes, artists, scientists and more

We are now faced with a similarly momentous challenge: global warming. The steady deterioration of the very climate of our very planet is becoming a war of the first order, and by any measure, the U.S. is losing. Indeed, if we're fighting at all—and by most accounts, we're not—we're fighting on the wrong side.

A month before Pope Benedict XVI was to embark on his trip to the United States, both Vatican officials and American Catholics were asking if he would confront the priest sex abuse crisis. A week before takeoff, with the Vatican confirming that the issue would indeed come up, the question became: how? Halfway through the pontiff's six-day trip, we can already say: Let us count the ways.