When natural disasters strike major cities, such as the Haiti earthquake and 2005's Hurricane Katrina, scientists debate whether to rebuild or relocate the city. Relocating may be the best bet for Port-au-Prince, says EARTH commenter and Columbia Earth Institute geophysicist John Mutter. But in other cases, such as New Orleans, we should rebuild.

Inexpensive, abundant and relatively clean: EARTH commenter and Stanford geophysicist Mark Zoback makes the case for natural gas to become a key part of U.S. energy policy.

When it comes to natural hazards, the big issue is not in their prediction, but in mitigation — in preventing an ensuing catastrophe, such as the devastation that followed 2005's Hurricane Katrina or the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami. That's where geoscientists can truly help society reduce risk, argues EARTH contributor Mary Lou Zoback in this comment.

The biggest change in tomorrow's agriculture will be one of mindset: It must become an industry closely connected to energy, environment, health, global security and economic prosperity, says EARTH regular contributor George A. Seielstad in this comment.

With the future of energy so uncertain, only a fool would boldly make predictions, according to EARTH regular contributor Michael E. Webber. So here, he gives his "fool's take" on the future of energy.

For our end-of-year issue, EARTH asked several of its regular contributors to look into their crystal balls and anticipate what will happen in the future in their various fields. In this comment, Rasoul Sorkhabi gives his take on the energy scenario for 2010, both in the United States and around the world.

Instead of debating whether oil production is about to go into terminal decline, the author writes, let's just make "peak oil" — and therefore a post-peak oil world — happen as fast as possible.

How the new administration's policymakers treat energy research and development will be telling: If they’re smart, say commenters Alix Broadfoot and Michael Webber, they’ll avoid earmarks.

An ordained Christian pastor who is also a geologist, the author often encounters rejection of evolution from some in the Christian community. To really understand this opposition, she says, scientists need to understand how American Protestant Christian Fundamentalism developed.

It started with a reporter's question: Are you driving a hybrid yet? For a geologist who wants both to save the world and to save money, it was time to decide.

Despite public perception, the purpose of Congress is not to enact good legislation, but to un-legislate — to prevent emotional responses to current events from crowding out more careful solutions.