Steven Johnson:

The truth is California doesn't have a water problem. We all do.

The Economist:

The UN's latest World Population Prospects expects the world to grow from 7.2 billion people today to 9.6 billion in 2050. India will swell to 1.6 billion people; it is on track to overtake China in 2028.

Bob Work:

I tell you now, our technological superiority is slipping. We see it every day.

The Economist:

America's preeminence is over.

Steven Pinker:

We see the fossils of dead superlatives that our ancestors overused ...

William Ellsworth, a research geologist at the United States Geological Survey:

We can say with virtual certainty that the increased seismicity in Oklahoma has to do with recent changes in the way that oil and gas are being produced.

Wes Felter:

We're getting into interest-only adjustable-rate subprime technical debt.

Alissa Walker:

It is actually cheaper to ship alfalfa to Beijing than it is to truck it from one side of [California] to the other.

Vince Beiser:

Desert sand generally doesn't work for construction; shaped by wind rather than water, desert grains are too round to bind together well. Exporters in Australia are literally selling sand to Arabs.