Indoor air researchers should have an overarching objective to create a more sustainable world through provision of healthful, comfortable, and productive indoor environments with the wise use of materials and energy. Sustainability will not be achieved until the systemic causes of poverty are redressed including universal availability of clean and inexpensive energy. The current use of biomass and low-grade fossil fuels for heating and cooking contributes to several million premature deaths annually. The expanded use of tobacco could shorten as many as 10 million lives per year. Pervasive exposures to hundreds of new synthetic compounds may contribute to respiratory distress, immunological, neurological and development disorders, and cancer. Many of these compounds have the potential to exert toxicological effects on the ecosystem. Researchers should be informed about these health and ecological effects, cognizant of the limitations of current knowledge, and prepared to express professional opinions protective of public and ecosystem health.