The title of this issue of The Weekly, "Is this it?" is appropriate for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which being that very little ever seems to get accomplished at global summits attended by world leaders (read: 2008 Hokkaido G-8 conference).

As the articles printed in this issue will hopefully point out, however, issues of pollution and global warming have moved from affecting those living in poverty or on society's fringes to impacting economies, and threatening to slash GDPs and bankrupt nations. Environmental neglect truly has gone global.

The rhetoric spouted by the world's top economies is saying all the right things — as political rhetoric tends to — but one can't help but wonder: Will major industrialized nations put their "green" where their mouths are?