Wangari Maathai?s Green Belt Movement made the relationship between needs and wars so clear that even the Nobel Peace Prize panel (which awarded her the peace prize in ?04) recognized the truth: Violent disparities in access to resources lead to violence; fights over access to water, land, food, and the stuff of life ? are destroying the planet and human lives. There?s a link between conflict and resource strain. We can see it in the Amazon and Brazil and Kenya and Congo. But here? Rising poverty, bankruptcies, defaults--they're all on the rise for the majority of Americans, even as a tiny minority grow their share of all wealth and their power influence over the resource that is government's care. The system is stressed and so are the people. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found the average family premium for health insurance rose to $13,375 last year, a jump of 5% even as inflation fell. That makes for an obscene rise of 131% over the past ten years. No wonder the number of Americans without any health coverage rose to 46.3 million at the same time. Health's a scarce resource, just like food and water. And people's fears for themselves and their kids are very real. The Census Bureau shows that the child poverty rate rose to 19.0% last year. That translates to 14.1 million children living in poverty in the richest nation in the world. By some estimates, that could be 26.6% by the end of 2009. Where does it all lead? Income inequality is at an all time high. Resources are strapped. Are we really surprised there?s angst and anger in the air? Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize with the Green Belt movement which believes in better stewardship, and better sharing to reduce war. Sounds good over there. Why not here? What would be the US equivalent of planting a billion trees? Less