Is the United States entering its "Lost Decade"? A crunch on natural resources coupled with a crippling economic crisis and an aging workforce threaten to hurl us into a decade or more of grudgingly slow development akin to that of the Japanese after their own real estate bust a few decades ago. Will the United States learn from past mistakes in order to reconcile economic growth with environmental safety? In the December issue of EARTH Magazine, learn how the facts and the fallacies measure up to the increasing challenges facing the United States in 2012 and beyond.