TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/042390/0423332.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.6 KB | 121 lines

                                                                                ENVIRONMENT, Page 83

EARTH DAY

Planet-Saving Report Card


    When TIME named endangered earth Planet of the Year in
January 1989, the magazine suggested steps that could help
preserve the environment. Most of the ideas carried no
timetable, but now is a good time to look at what governments
have done:


    IMPOSE SPECIAL TAXES ON CARBON-DIOXIDE EMISSIONS

    This proposal, designed to head off global warming, has gone
nowhere, despite the efforts of the United Nations Environment
Program to forge a worldwide treaty limiting the release of
carbon dioxide. In the U.S., a primary producer of CO2, new
taxes are anathema to the current Administration in any case.
The President has declared that global warming is a problem that
needs study, not immediate action.

    TOUGHEN AUTO FUEL-EFFICIENCY STANDARDS

    In the absence of higher gasoline taxes, setting strict
fuel-efficiency requirements for new cars is an alternative
route to conservation. The technology exists to boost the
average mileage achieved by U.S. cars from 26.5 m.p.g. to 45
m.p.g. by 2000. But under President Bush, the federally mandated
average will be raised only to 27.5 m.p.g. this year.

    LAUNCH A MAMMOTH INTERNATIONAL TREE-PLANTING PROGRAM

    This idea is a favorite of everyone's, from industrial
giants like Union Carbide, which has promised to plant half a
million trees by 2000, to the leaders of the U.S. and Australia,
who have promised a billion trees each. Still unclear: Will the
funding come through?

    BAN CFC PRODUCTION COMPLETELY

    Under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, the major nations have
already pledged a 50% reduction in the production of
ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons by 1999. Last year the
European Community and the U.S. tentatively agreed to push for
a complete ban by the end of the century. The task now is to
translate that understanding into a formal treaty, which should
include all nations, especially the Soviet Union and East
European countries. In the meantime, plastic-foam manufacturers
in the U.S. say they will stop using CFCs in their products,
and Vermont has decreed that the chemicals must be eliminated
from auto air-conditioners in new cars sold in the state after
1993. Major CFC suppliers like Du Pont are developing
substitutes that are much less harmful to the ozone.

    BAN THE EXPORT OF WASTE

    Last year representatives of 105 nations agreed to the Basel
Convention governing international shipments of waste. The
document would not ban waste exports altogether, but it would
impose tight restrictions. No waste could cross national lines
unless adequate environmental precautions were taken and the
government of the importing nation gave its approval. The
convention has been ratified by the governments of three
nations, and will go into force when it is approved by 17 more.

    MAKE BIRTH-CONTROL INFORMATION AND DEVICES AVAILABLE TO
EVERY     MAN AND WOMAN

    Many countries have increased their contributions to the
United Nations Fund for Population Activities, the pre-eminent
organization in the distribution of birth-control information
and devices. The Soviet Union began giving UNFPA hard currency
last year for the first time. But the U.S. has contributed
nothing to the fund since 1985. Reason: UNFPA conducts programs
in nations like China, where abortions are encouraged -- a
situation politically unacceptable to the Reagan and Bush
Administrations. The U.S. also refuses to give money to the
International Planned Parenthood Federation because it actively
supports abortion.

    DEVELOP LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS TO
IMPRESS     UPON PEOPLE THE VALUE OF NATURE'S GENETIC DIVERSITY

    Such programs have been slow in getting started. In at least
one important region, though, there has been encouraging
progress. The island of Madagascar is home to a stunning array
of animal, plant and fish species, most found nowhere else in
the world. Under intense pressure from a burgeoning population,
the island is already largely deforested. But conservationists
and government officials, making personal visits to more than
100 villages surrounding the Ranomafana primal rain forest, have
taught indigenous people about the region's genetic diversity
and shown them ways to survive without plundering the forest.
Ranomafana is soon to be named a national park.

    PROMOTE WASTE RECYCLING

    As the world's biggest per capita garbage producer, the U.S.
has the greatest potential for recycling. The good news: all
over the country, local communities and states have passed laws
requiring separation of various types of trash for community
recycling. New York City, whose estimated 27,000 tons of
municipal solid waste per day might seem an intractable problem,
launched a program last year. The goal is to recycle 25% of the
city's trash within five years.

    ENCOURAGE DEBT-FOR-NATURE SWAPS

    Such programs, which involve the granting of debt relief to
developing nations in exchange for steps to protect rain forests
and other resources, have not taken off in a big way. In the
past year or so, only $100 million in debt has been forgiven in
return for preserves in Costa Rica and elsewhere. The sticking
point: Who will bear the cost of the debt relief? So far,
private environmental groups have bought small amounts of Third
World debt securities from commercial lenders, but the
governments of the developed nations will have to put in more
money if the debt-for-nature concept is to pick up momentum.