Environmentalism has truly become a global issue. In the United States, President Bush declares he will be an "environmental president." In France, West Germany, and even Eastern Europe, environmentalists are winning increasing political support. At the international conferences, nations agree to ban the export of hazardous wastes and pledge to eliminate the use of chlorofluorocarbons by the year 2000. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska draws worldwide media attention. The head of the Chinese Academy of Sciences predicts that China will face an ecological disaster "if immediate action is not taken to halt environmental pollution."
Yet beneath the surface agreement that a severe problem faces mankind, controversies and conflicts simmer. Even as developed countries seek international cooperation to curb pollution, developing countries concerned about providing jobs for their people resist the call to clean up, or request economic aid from the West to help meet the new environmental standards.
Also at issue is the extent of the crisis and the most appropriate response. Some scientists argue that the data do not necessarily support widespread assumptions about the greenhouse effect. Disagreements also exist over the degree to which governments ought to get involved in soling the problems.
In this month's special report, THE WORLD & I examines these increasingly controversial issues through the eyes of experts with a variety of views.
Milton Copulos examines the growing tensions between the developed and the developing worlds over the environment, exemplified by the controversy over the proper use of the Amazon Basin's rain forests. He concludes that "there are no easy answers to the problem of balancing environmental protection and economic growth."
Environmental consultant Jack Bregman takes a historical look at man's failure to clean up the environment and points out that, while many technological solutions exist today, very often the political will is lacking. "Far too many countries," he says, "have adopted the attitude that a clean environment is a nice thing to have, but it is much more important that their people have the jobs that industry can bring to them. They take the attitude that when the standard of living rises, then they will begin worrying about cleaning up the mess being created."
While Bregman emphasizes national approaches, James Gustave Speth, president of the World Resources Institute, sees the need for greater international cooperation. The United States should take the lead, he says, in seeking a global convention on reducing greenhouse gases, protecting tropical rain forests, and ending subsidies that promote natural resource depletion and pollution. By working through both the public and private sectors, Speth states, the United States can "make an important contribution by assisting developing countries in finding access to solution-oriented technologies at affordable prices."
Kent Jeffreys, energy and environmental policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, believes that the U.S. government's past and present policy of emphasizing public works must be replaced by a greater emphasis on private-sector incentives. At present, "No policy is considered complete without a massive infusion of federal
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