Monday, January 14, 2008 Global Problems, Local Solutions by Wendell Berry If governments fail to protect their citizens, then those citizens must protect themselves by developing local economies. LET US BEGIN by assuming what appears to be true: that the so-called "environmental crisis" is now pretty well established as a fact of our age. The problems of pollution, species extinction, loss of wilderness, loss of farmland, loss of topsoil may still be ignored or scoffed at, but they are not denied. Concern for these problems has acquired a certain standing, a measure of discussability, in the media and in some scientific, academic, and religious institutions. This is good, of course; obviously, we can’t hope to solve these problems without an increase of public awareness and concern. But in an age burdened with "publicity", we have to be aware also that as issues rise into popularity they rise also into the danger of oversimplification. To speak of this...