Lester Brown On What We Need to Do in the Next Forty Years to Reverse Environmental Degradation.

Lester Brown, president of the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based think tank that monitors the state of the environment. The Institute has just issued it's 7th annual "State of the World" report. Brown's been nicknamed "Doctor Doom," for his dire predictions about subjects such as the dwindling forests and the global warming trend. But critics use that term less and less these days as more of Brown's predictions have come true. The 1990 edition of "State of the World" is published by Norton. (Part 1 of a two-part interview.

New York Times science writer David Wallace-Wells says the cost of solar and wind energy has fallen dramatically. Nevertheless, we're still facing painful, long-lasting changes to the planet.

China expert Orville Schell explains to host Terry Gross how the gates of United States and China are connected, and how the protectionist policies of the past are no longer viable.