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Humans have had a greater impact an the natural world in recent decades than in the preceding four million years. We’re sorely over-taxing our life-support systems, and undermining social and economic stability. In Vital Signs: The Trends that are Shaping Our Future by Lester Brown, Nicholas Lenssen and Hal Kane (Earthscan, £12.95, ISBN 1 85383 276 6), the Worldwatch Institute’s annual report, we have a limited but invaluable source of data and thumb-nail analyses of trends affecting the global environment, economy and social conditions.