Key research ignored.

• Position: From Readers - Letter to the Editor

Your article "The Hidden Shame of the Global Industrial Economy," [January/February] is both gratifying and disturbing. It is good that the critical issues you raise are receiving attention. At the same time, it is hard to distinguish this article from any number of other litanies of disaster.

The point is: so what do we do about these problems you are identifying? You present no agenda for dealing with the problems identified. This is particularly saddening in light of the enormous effort that some of the best thinkers on all sides of these issues have put into finding solutions in recent years.

The Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development Project, of which I was director, spent over two and a half years, involved directly over 5,000 experts and stakeholders, and had some 100 pieces of contracted research, culminating in publication of some 20 works, including Breaking New Ground (Earthscan 2002). The independent Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman of the International Finance Corporation conducted a very thoughtful study of extractive industry projects supported by the World Bank Group, publishing the results as Extracting Sustainable Advantage? (April 2003). The three World Bank Group Operations Evaluation bodies cooperated in a major...