Why should sustainability, essentially an ecological concept, serve as the centerpiece of a twenty-first-century American grand strategy? Sustainability is not an end state in itself. It is a strategic mindset and philosophy that can carry us forward in time, just as diplomat and historian George Kennan’s concept of containment carried our nation through the Cold War years. In this sense, sustainability, as a central, coalescing grand strategic concept, would serve to inform our national policy decisions regarding investments, security, economic development, energy, the environment, and engagement well into this century so that successive administrations can look beyond current risks and threats with a more positive focus on converging interests and opportunities as they relate to emerging global conditions.

Insects and their relatives (collectively called arthropods) are ancient members of the animal kingdom. Arthropods first appear in the fossil record 500 million years ago. Since then, arthropods began cycling nutrients, pollinating plants, eating other arthropods, providing food for fish, mammals, birds and other vertebrates, and even farming. Arthropods now account for up to 90 percent of all animal species.