then the problem would be to prevent excessive use or misuse of the global
common, which would once again require international cooperation” (p. 43).
Probably, we will eventually need to agree on some worldwide goals for
the planet. We have been moving in this direction by attempting to decrease
carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbon emissions.We will probably need to
make saving our environment one of the main goals of our world community.
Within this goal, we will need to agree on more specific goals such as
decreasing carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and chlorofluorocarbons; increasing
the amount of rainforest; finding new, better, and safer ways of storing
hazardous waste; and producing more energy without polluting more,
depleting more, and creating more waste.
In addition to agreeing on goals, we will need to negotiate agreements
among nations as to what we want to do and how we want to accomplish
our goals. This will not be easy. As you might predict, national vested
interests will collide with international environmental policy. For example,
President George W. Bush backed out of the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement
among nations to decrease carbon dioxide emissions (“Out of Denial,”
2002, p. A6). Because the United States produces 20% of all the carbon
dioxide and is the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, when
it backs out of an agreement, the original agreement can be hurt considerably.
So, for international agreements to work, rich and powerful nations
will need to be part of these agreements
Creating common environmental goals and reaching international agreements
will be helped along greatly as more leaders of various countries begin
to take our worldwide environmental problems seriously. This will not be
easy for many leaders of nations; to remain popular and get reelected, these
leaders will focus more on their nations’ immediate problems, such as their
nations’ economies. Problems of internal political unrest will greatly distract
leaders from focusing on the environment. Also, wars and conflicts with other
countries will deter leaders from focusing on the environment. Moreover, it
will not be easy to get leaders of nations to focus on something that seems to
be distant and therefore does not seem so urgent. But the mounting evidence
of environmental degradation will increasingly present national leaders with
the harsh reality that something must be done.
At this point, serious goal making and agreement making are good places
to start.7 One factor that may speed up this process a bit is if some national
leaders, especially from the more powerful countries, promote the environment
as part of the overall national and international policy.
In thinking about what we can do, key factors to keep in mind in all of
the social problems that we face is that we will need to (a) plan ahead,
(b) consider the consequences, (c) experiment with new social policy, and
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