Let the sunshine in

After the snow and ice of Washington, the sun and blue skies of San Francisco – where the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is currently holding its 173rd annual meeting, and the temperature has almost reach 20 degrees Centigrade – have come as a welcome relief.

Intriguingly, the theme of the AAAS meeting – "Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being" – is remarkably close to that of the World Bank's global forum earlier this week, which chose to address a similar goal for science and technology of "sustainable growth and poverty reduction". Not surprisingly, however, the issues are being approached from a somewhat different perspective.

Last night, for example, association president John Holdren, director of the Woods Hole Research Centre, delivered a powerful address in which, in contrast to the current line of thinking in Washington, he argued that without dramatic political intervention on the energy front, the world was heading for disaster.

This afternoon, Victoria Hale, founding director of the world's first "non-profit pharmaceutical company", OneWorld Health, gave an equally impassioned talk on the virtues of social entrepreneurship. The key to success, she explained, was the conviction of individuals that they have the ability to change the world for the better (and, of course, the willingness of wealthy philanthropists to support them in their efforts).

Two personal visions that, while lacking the robustness of the economic arguments heard at the World Bank, seemed to make up for it with personal commitment. Some might argue that this was just the effect of the weather. But there seems more to it than that.