Speth—Pollution

illllllllllllEllillllltlllilllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllltlllllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllltllllllllllllllllllllllllll

economies appear to be more successful at control- will come from another realm as well—from the
ling pollution than are centrally planned ones hopes and fears of people, from their aspirations for
(Brown et al. 1987). We must do much more to har- their children and their wonder at the natural world,
ness market forces for environmental objectives. from their own self-respect and their dogged insis-
tence that some things that appear to be very wrong
are in fact very wrong. People everywhere are of-
Transition 5 fended by pollution. They sense intuitively that we
Fifth, we should move to more international have pressed beyond limits we should not have ex-
approaches to reducing pollution. As we have seen, ceeded. They want to clean up the world, make it a
pollution problems are increasingly international better place, be good trustees of the Earth for future
and even global. The head of the O.E.C.D. Environ- generations. With Thoreau, they know that heaven
mental Directorate recently made the case for inter- is under our feet as well as over our heads. Politicians
national agreements as follows: around the globe are increasingly hearing the de-
mand that things be set right. And that, at least, is
No state can escape from being influenced by develop-
very good news indeed.
ments elsewhere. The emergence of transfrontier pol-
lution and the need for concerted action to reduce pol-
lution have already modified concepts of national
interest and international obligations. The realities Acknowledgments
of international interdependence, as we are facing
The author would like to acknowledge the
them today, call for strengthened efforts to accelerate
valuable assistance of Robert M. Kwartin, research
this progress.
director of the World Resources series, for developing
(Lykke 1987, p.8) figures and other information on environmental con-
ditions and trends. Helpful reviews and comments
Environmental cooperation at the international on earlier drafts of this manuscript were provided by
level is most advanced in countries of the European Alan Brewster, Edwin Clark, Mohamed Ed-Ashry,
Community, where pollution control is increasingly John Firor, Bob Kwartin, Jim MacKenzie, Jessica
a Community matter. Perhaps the most impressive Mathews, Bob Repetto, Rafe Pomerance, Peter
international accords to date on pollution are the Thacher, and Lauren Wenzel. To Bob Kwartin and
1979 Geneva Convention on Transboundary Air Pol- the others, I express deep appreciation.
lution (with its path-breaking 1984 protocol for a 30
per cent reduction in sulfur oxide emissions), and the
Vienna Ozone Layer Convention (with its 1987 Mon- References
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Transition 6 oceans can't take much more abuse. October 12:89.
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And sixth is the evolution to a stable world lution. April 6:94.
population. Global population growth should be Christian Science Monitor. June 11, 1987. Pesticide poi-
halted before it doubles again. Appropriate policies soning rises in Third World, CARE expert says.
would be to promote economic advancement, educa- Conservation Foundation. 1987. State of the Environment: a
View Toward the Nineties.
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Conclusion Energy 1986.
Dover, M. 1985. A Better Mousetrap: Improving Pest Man-
These six transitions, the reader will doubtless agement in Agriculture. World Resources Institute, Wash-
ington, D. C.
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