In the prevalent world view, the ecology is perceived as a subset of the economy where intense state interventions and ideological scaffoldings are needed to sustain this rule of capital. However, this order of things seems to be changing where the economy is now, increasingly, being perceived as a subset of the ecology.

Cereal stocks are up, the harvest for wheat is the most plentiful in years, and fuel prices are low - yet food prices have been climbing. Although food prices are less than half of the historical peaks of 2007-2008, some governments and traders are leading the charge to hedge against a shortage.

2010, the international year of biodiversity, celebrates Earth's glorious variety of species and ecosystems. But many are threatened or damaged.

In 2008, Brazilian researchers embarked on a major effort to develop a comprehensive list of the nation's plants by 2010, the deadline for the goals set forth in the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, an international treaty on the conservation of flora and fauna worldwide.

Global goods trade in the first half of 2010 was about 25 percent higher than the same period of the year before, and the value of worldwide merchandise trade grew during the second quarter, according to new data from the WTO secretariat. But the volume of global trade remains well below the peaks reached in mid-2008 before the global financial and economic crisis.