Dr. Indur M. Goklany has worked with federal and state governments, think tanks, and the private sector in the United States for over 30 years, and written extensively on globalization, economic development, environmental quality, technological change, and human well-being. He was a delegate for the United States to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and to the team negotiating the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In the 1980s, he managed the US Environmental Protection Agency's fledgling emissions-trading program before it became popular. He has contributed many innovative ideas for environmental policy. For example, he argues that increasing the productivity and efficiency of land and water use to meet critical human needs for food, fiber, and timber is the most effective method of conserving habitat and biodiversity; and that sustainable development will make developing countries less vulnerable to future climate change while helping to solve present-day climate-related problems. His latest book is The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet . Before that, he wrote The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal of Environmental Risk Assessment and Clearing the Air .