Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Developing and monitoring international environ-
mental treaties
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Providing funds and loans for more sustainable
economic development and reducing poverty
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Helping more than 100 nations develop environ-
mental laws and institutions
T rade-Offs
Global Efforts on
Environmental Problems
Good News
Bad News
Despite their often limited funding, these diverse
organizations have made important contributions to
global and national environmental progress since 1970.
Environmental
protection
agencies in 115
nations
Most international
environmental
treaties lack
criteria for
monitoring and
evaluating their
effectiveness
Over 500
international
environmental
treaties and
agreements
International Environmental Cooperation
and Policy
Earth summits and international environmental
treaties have played important roles in dealing with
global environmental problems, but most treaties are
not effectively monitored and enforced.
Since the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environ-
ment in Stockholm, Sweden, progress has been made
in addressing environmental issues at the global level.
Figure 18-20 lists some of the good and bad news
about international efforts to deal with global environ-
mental problems such as poverty, climate change, bio-
diversity loss, and ocean pollution.
In 2004, environmental leader Gus Speth argued
that global environmental problems are getting worse
and that international efforts to solve them are inade-
quate. He proposes the creation of a World Environ-
mental Organization (WEO), on the order of the World
Health Organization and the World Trade Organiza-
tion, to deal with global challenges.
1992 Rio Earth
Summit led to
nonbinding
agreements
without enough
funding to
implement them
UN Environment
Programme
(UNEP) created in
1972 to negotiate
and monitor
international
environmental
treaties
By 2003 there was
little improvement
in the major
environmental
problems
discussed at the
1992 Rio summit
1992 Rio Earth
Summit adopted
key principles for
dealing with global
environmental
problems
2002
Johannesburg
Earth Summit
failed to provide
adequate goals,
deadlines, and
funding for dealing
with global
environmental
problems such as
climate change,
biodiversity loss,
and poverty
2002
Johannesburg
Earth Summit
attempted to
implement policies
and goals of 1992
Rio summit and
find ways to
reduce poverty
18-6 ENVIRONMENTAL
WORLDVIEWS: CLASHING VALUES
AND CULTURES
Figure 18-20
Trade-offs:
good and bad news about interna-
tional efforts to deal with global environmental problems.
Critical
thinking: pick the single piece of good news and bad news that
you think are the most important.
What Is an Environmental Worldview?
Your environmental worldview encompasses how
you think the world works, what you believe your
environmental role in the world should be, and what
you believe is right and wrong environmental
behavior.
People disagree about how serious our environmental
problems are and what we should do about them.
These conflicts arise mostly out of differing
environ-
mental worldviews:
how people think the world
works, what they believe their environmental role in
the world should be, and what they believe is right
and wrong environmental behavior
(environmental
ethics).
People with widely differing environmental
worldviews can take the same data, be logically con-
sistent, and yet arrive at quite different conclusions
because they start with different assumptions and
values.
Many types of environmental worldviews exist.
Some are
human centered
while others are
life centered,
with the primary focus on individual species or on
sustaining the earth's natural life forms (biodiversity)
and life-support systems (biosphere) for the benefit of
humans and other forms of life.
Human-Centered Environmental Worldviews
According to the human-centered view, humans are
the planet's most important species and should
manage the earth mostly for our own benefit.
Many people in today's industrial consumer societies
have a
planetary management worldview.
According
