Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

Politics is the art of making good decisions on insufficientevidence.LORD KENNETThis chapter discusses how we can use politics to promoteenvironmental quality and sustainability. It addressesthe following questions:■■■■■■What major environmental and political challengesdo we face in this century?How do democracies work, and what factorshinder the ability of democracies to deal withenvironmental problems?How do we influence, develop, and implementenvironmental policy?What is the role of environmental law in dealingwith environmental problems?What are the major types and roles of environmentalgroups and their opponents?What types of global environmental policies andtreaties exist, and how might they be improved?27-1 ENVIRONMENTALAND POLITICAL CHALLENGESFOR THIS CENTURYWhat Changes in Environmental Awarenessand Focus Have Taken Place: Some MajorShiftsThere have been seven shifts in the way we viewand deal with environmental problems.This chapter examines the strengths and weaknessesof political systems in dealing environmental problems.Before doing this we need to understand the natureof the environmental problems we face in terms ofnations and the international community of nations.Since the 1970s there have been seven shifts in thetypes and focus of the environmental problems weface. One is increasing concern about the harmful effectsof human activities on biodiversity and other forms of naturalcapital that support all life and economies. This isleading to increased emphasis on protecting andrestoring entire ecosystems instead of focusing primarilyon keeping individual species from becomingprematurely extinct. To be effective this will require internationalcooperative efforts.A second is a shift from local to regional and globalconcerns about emissions of air and water pollutantsthat can be transported from one region or country toanother. One example is a significant increase in emissionsof sulfur and nitrogen compounds, especially inAsia, that can blanket large regions with smog andharmful and acid forming chemicals. Another exampleis rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmospherefrom burning fossil fuels and clearing forests that canaffect regional and global climate patterns. A third exampleis rising levels of nitrogen compounds in the atmosphereand aquatic systems because of emissions ofgaseous nitrogen compounds by power plants andmotor vehicles and rapidly growing runoff of nitrogenfertilizers from cropland and urban land into rivers,lakes, and coastal waters.A third shift involves growing concern over thethreat of climate change and its potential to disrupt ecological,economic, and political systems. Many analystsconsider this threat and the related problem of biodiversityloss to be the two most important environmentalproblems we face.A four shift is a growing awareness of the pollutionproblems of developing countries—especially those in theheavily populated urban areas of China, India, Mexico,and Brazil—that are undergoing rapid industrializationand economic growth. Many people in thesecountries now have some of the world’s highest levelsof exposure to tiny particles in indoor and outdoor air,lead (mostly from burning leaded gasoline), and exposureto infectious organisms in drinking water. A fifthand related shift is a growing awareness of the harmful effectsof poverty on the environment and human health (p. 13).Sixth is increasing concern about possible effects oftrace amounts of some synthetic organic (carbon-based)chemicals on human health and wildlife. Examples arepesticides, plastics, industrial chemicals, drugs, andfood additives. We know little about the potentiallyharmful environmental and health effects of traceamounts of such chemicals.So far our approach has been to assume that suchchemicals are innocent until shown to be harmful.Now there is a shift, led by the European Union, tohave nations and the international community assumethat such chemicals are potentially harmful untilshown to be harmless. This leads to increased emphasison preventing pollutants from reaching the environmentinstead of trying to clean them up after theyhave been dispersed into the environment.The seventh shift involves relying more on the internationalcommunity to deal with environmental problems inan increasingly globalized world and economy. So far wehave not been very effective in bringing about this importantshift.In the 1970s the United States led the world in recognizingand dealing with local and national environmentalproblems. However, since then it has given upa leadership position in dealing with the increasinglyurgent regional and global environmental problemswe face. Environmental leadership is now comingmostly from the nations of the European Union. However,major nations such as the United States, China,and India will have to assume leadership positions forglobal environmental efforts to succeed. This will requirecooperative efforts among government, busi-606 CHAPTER 27 Politics, Environment, and Sustainability