| May 2005, #6
Climate Change | Environment | Humanitarian Assistance - Refugees| Internet/Communications
D1 - Resurrecting Clear Skies
Gayer, Ted
Environmental Policy Outlook, March-April 2004, 5p.
“After failing to make it out of Senate committee in March, the future of the president’s Clear Skies bill is uncertain. While the bill contains some flaws, most of its opponents criticized the virtues of Clear Skies, thus making it more difficult to fix the real problems and to strike a compromise. There is still some hope that the bill will pass later this congressional session. In lieu of Clear Skies, the Environmental Protection Agency recently promulgated two administrative rules to tighten regulations on power plant air pollution. These rules are certain to be litigated and thus delayed. With Clear Skies, we get a greater guarantee that the air quality goals will be met, and we get greater regulatory certainty that leads to lower costs.” Ted Gayer is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Fulltext
D2 - Warm-Up Drills
Kriz, Margaret
National Journal, March 26, 2005, v37, #13, pp906-911
”Early in his first term, President Bush withdrew the United States from the international negotiations over how to curb pollutants linked to global warming because, he said, proposed restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions would seriously damage the U.S. economy.” Now, “states are stepping in to control greenhouse gases and reduce dependence on fuels linked to global warming.” Providing an overview of state initiatives the author maintains, that “the United States might never sign the Kyoto accord, but the states are emerging as an important and internationally respected force for controlling U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions.” Margaret Kriz is a National Journal staff correspondent. Fulltext
D3 - Pushing Beyond the Earth’s Limit
Brown, Lester R.
The Futurist, May-June 2005, v39, #3, pp18-24
"The world economy is making excessive demands on the earth. Evidence of this can be seen in collapsing fisheries, shrinking forests, expanding deserts, rising CO2 levels, eroding soils, rising temperatures, falling water tables, melting glaciers, deteriorating grasslands, rising seas, rivers that are running dry, and disappearing species.” In his article, Brown “outlines the ways that human demands are outstripping the earth's natural capacities - and how the resulting environmental damage is undermining food production. … Brown investigates these issues and outlines the steps needed to secure future food supplies.” Lester R. Brown is president of the Earth Policy Institute. This article draws from his most recent book "Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures." Fulltext
D4 - Environmental Heresies
Brand, Stewart
Technology Review, May 2005, v108, #5, pp60-, 7p
Brand predicts that over the next ten years the mainstream of the environmental movement will reverse its opinion and activism in four major areas. Today, “the success of the environmental movement is driven by two powerful forces - romanticism and science - that are often in opposition.” Brand rethinks population growth, urbanization, genetically engineered organisms, and nuclear power offering the scientific perceptions. Stewart Brand, founder of the “Whole Earth Catalogue” and cofounder of “The Well,” the first electronic community, works primarily with Global Business Network and The Long Now Foundation. Fulltext D5 - Does Environmentalism Have a Future?
Meyer, John M.
Dissent, Spring 2005, v52 , #2, pp69- , 7p
"There is a paradox at the heart of contemporary American environmentalism. On the one hand, its organizations are generally larger, stronger, better funded, and more knowledgeable than ever before. … And yet: environmentalists find themselves playing defense far more than offense, devoting time and resources to fighting proposals such as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, rather than forging new responses to crises such as climate change.” Tracking the current U.S. environmental movement, Meyer discusses vision and values that might serve as guidance for effective change. He considers three sets of opposing approaches along which an environmentalist vision might be located. John M. Meyer is associate professor of government and politics at Humboldt State University and the author of “Political Nature: Environmentalism and the Interpretation of Western Thought.” He is currently a visiting member at the School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Fulltext
D6 -The Precautionary Principle as a Basis for Decision Making
Hahn, Robert W. and Cass R. Sunstein
AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, April 2005, 10p.
"Over the coming decades, the increasingly popular “precautionary principle” is likely to have a significant impact on policies all over the world. Applying this principle could lead to dramatic changes in decision-making. Possible applications include climate change, genetically modified food, nuclear power, homeland security, new drug therapies, and even war. We argue that the precautionary principle does not help individuals or nations make difficult choices in a non-arbitrary way. Taken seriously, it can be paralyzing, providing no direction at all. In contrast, balancing costs against benefits can offer the foundation of a principled approach for making difficult decisions.” Robert W. Hahn is executive director of the American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies and a resident scholar at AEI. Cass R. Sunstein is a professor at the University of Chicago’s Law School and Department of Political Science. Fulltext
D7 - The Environmental Limits to Globalization
Ehrenfeld, David
Conservation Biology, April 2005, v19, #2, pp318-326
”Criticisms of globalization have been largely based on its socioeconomic effects, but the environmental impacts of globalization are equally important. These include acceleration of climate change; drawdown of global stocks of cheap energy; substantial increases in air, water, and soil pollution; decreases in biodiversity; including a massive loss of crop and livestock varieties; depletion of ocean fisheries; and a significant increase in invasions of exotic species, including plant, animal, and human pathogens… The environmental and social problems inherent in globalization are completely interrelated – any attempt to treat them as separate entities is unlikely to succeed in easing the transition to a postglobalized world.” David Ehrenfeld is affiliated with Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. Order Article
D8 - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): Controversies For The 109th Congress
Corn, Lynne M.; Gelb, Bernard A.;Baldwin, Pamela
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service, updated March 11, 2005, 16p.
“One major element of the energy debate in the 109th Congress is whether to approve energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northeastern Alaska, and if so, under what conditions, or whether to continue to prohibit development to protect the area’s biological resources, along with its recreational and subsistence values… undisturbed coastal plain, also is home to a wide variety of plants and animals. … The analysis in this report covers first the economic and geological factors that have triggered interest in development, then the philosophical, biological, and environmental quality factors that have generated opposition to it.” M. Lynne Corn and Bernard A. Gelb are with the Resources, Science, and Industry Division of CRS. Pamela Baldwin is with the CRS' American Law Division. Fulltext
D9 - What Is Sustainable Development?
Kates, Robert W. et al.
Environment, Apr2005, v47, #3, pp8-, 14p
"Kates et al provide a brief history of the concept of sustainable development, along with the interpretive differences and the common ground in definitions, goals, indicators, values, and practice are also described." Robert W. Kates professor emeritus, Brown University.
Fulltext
D10 - The U.S. Refugee Program in Transition
Martin, David
Migration Information Source, May 1, 2005
”The United States Refugee Program (USRP) is at a crossroads, and many people would say it has been in crisis. The most obvious symptoms are a steep fall-off in refugee admissions for fiscal years (FY) 2002 and 2003 to below 29,000 annually. In comparison, actual refugee admissions for the previous five years averaged almost 76,000. Because FY 2002 began 20 days after the September 11 terrorist attacks, observers often attribute the program's travails to the enhanced security measures introduced in response. Those measures played a role, but they were by no means the only source. … several promising developments have recently taken place in the US admissions program. The resettlement system is definitely changing, generating a better capacity to handle the difficulties that this new era of refugee resettlement presents. Nonetheless, progress remains measured, and clouds linger, particularly with respect to government funding.” David Martin, Migration Policy Institute and professor of international law at the University of Virginia. This article is based on the afterword to his new book, “The United States Refugee Admission Program: Reforms for a New Era of Refugee Resettlement.” Fulltext
D11 - U.S. Immigration Policy on Asylum Seekers
Wasem, Ruth Ellen
Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, CRS Report for Congress, February 16, 2005, 28p.
”The United States has long held to the principle that it will not return a foreign national to a country where his life or freedom would be threatened. This principle is embodied in several provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). … Although there are many who would revise U.S. asylum law and policy, those advocating change have divergent perspectives.” This report includes the following four sections: a summary of the legislative history of U.S. asylum policy, an overview of current policy, an analysis of asylum data, and an overview of the issues currently debated. Ruth Ellen Wasem is a specialist in Immigration Policy, Domestic Social Policy Division of CRS. Fulltext
D12 - The Digital Dynamic: How Communications Media Shape Our World
Miller, M. Rex
The Futurist, May/Jun 2005, v39, #3; pp31-35
“Television began entering homes less than 60 years ago and swiftly changed almost every aspect of human life - from business and education to politics and sports. Now, digital communications - computers, PDAs, the Internet, Blackberries, etc - are bringing another communications revolution that is likely to produce an even more radical transformation of peoples' lives. In the digital world, the boundaries that once separated physics, poetry, metaphysics, and other disciplines are beginning to blur. Clearly, managing the transition into the Digital Era will not be easy or problem free.” M. Rex Miller is the author of “The Millennium Matrix.” Fulltext
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