“The United States should establish a National Sustainability Policy and take additional steps to encourage federal agencies to collaborate on sustainability challenges that demand the expertise of many agencies, such as improving disaster resilience and managing ecosystems, says a new report from the National Research Council. Currently, the government is generally not organized to deal with the complex, long-term nature of sustainability challenges, the report says.  Statutes and government culture encourage agencies to focus on a single area — energy, water, or health, for example — with little attention to how areas affect one another.  This “stovepipe” or “silo” effect makes it difficult to address issues that cut across agency boundaries. “