To the editor:

The greatest challenge of this generation is not the economy or health care. The greatest challenge of this generation is finding the means of correcting our unwise methods and practices that are so rapidly destroying the environment for our generation and future generations.

In saying “the means” what I’m referring to is the systemic tools that would enable adjusting or fixing our unwise methods and practices. And in saying “the systemic tools,” what I refer to is the alternative energy technologies we need to fairly quickly adjust our fuels mix such that our economy runs not so much on injecting more carbon emissions into the atmosphere but runs on extraction of carbon out of the atmosphere.

“Natural systems represent one of the biggest untapped allies against the greatest challenge of this generation,” according to The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study, part of a global project, to be published next year.

“Natural systems” refers to the well known role of forests, wetlands and the natural processes such as photosynthesis by plants that absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

The media can help society correct these unwise methods and practices by reporting proposals that are backed up with scientifically advanced technologies that work well within nature rather than attempt to ignore nature’s processes as if they don’t really matter.