In 2009, a cover story in The New York Times magazine titled, "Why Isn't the Brain Green?" opened this way:
Two days after Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the United States, the Pew Research Center released a poll ranking the issues that Americans said were the most important priorities for this year. At the top of the list were several concerns "” jobs and the economy "” related to the current recession. Farther down, well after terrorism, deficit reduction and en ergy (and even something the pollsters characterized as "moral decline") was climate change. It was priority No. 20. That was last place.