Interesting counter point on the environment this week

In terms of sustainability here's an interesting counterpoint that both turned up this past week: the State of the States report (news article at Treehugger) by the Global Footprint Network and the National Association of Scholars report on Sustainability. The latter arrived in what TPP thought was a missive from the Heartland Institute, perhaps it is sharing its mailing list with other like-minded organizations. The State of the States report concludes that the USA running a natural renewable resources deficit having passed the break even point just this past week (July 14th). TTP had never heard of the National Association of Scholars before even though arguably he are one. The over all goals of the NAS sound OK, and TPP even agrees with some of their positions, e.g., free speech on university campuses. However when you read their report on sustainability you get the idea that this topic has become another political football where devious, lefty academics are brain-washing our college age youth into thinking sustainability is a good idea, just like we do with that nasty evolution stuff. Once you see where the NAS gets its money, their political perspective makes more sense. A quick scan of their advisory board revealed no one TPP has ever heard of.  As far as TPP can tell, the Global Footprint Network tried very hard to offer a fair and unbiased position, and they did it by using something called "data".  The GFN advisory board is another matter; it includes many notable conservation scientists, ecologists, and environmental thinkers. Sort of funny that our conservatives don't like to conserve and they don't worry about deficit spending of renewable resources. Thought they like balanced budgets?