Gore, Albert, Jr.

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WBI Studies Repository (WellBeing International)

Albert Gore, Jr., a Demo­cmt from Tennessee, has been in the US. Senate since 1984, having pre­viously served for eight years in the US. House of Representa­tives. He mn for the presidency in 1988 and finished third among the Denwcratic primary candi­dates. Sen. Gore is a strong in­ternational environmental advo­cate. He chaired the first con­gressional hearings on the greenhouse effect and has led the fight in responding to climate changes and the threat of ozone depletion. He is the author of the Ubrl.d Environmental Policy Act ef 1989 and legislation calling for the Nobel Prize Commission to create a Nobel award to recog­nize achievements in the fiel.d of environmenml preservation. Sen. Gore is the sponsor of G: senate bill designating April 22 as &rth Day 1990. • • • On April 22, 1970, 10,000 schools, 2,000 colleges and universities, · anc� virtually every community in America took part in Earth Day, Jhe event that helped launch the environmental moveqient. Congress stood in recess so thqt members could devote the day to discussing e n ­vironmental concerns in their states and districts. All three ma­jor television networks devoted substantial coverage to events aroµnd the country, and the Pup­lie Broadcasting Systeljl devoted its entire daytime progrannning to Earth Day coverage. More than 20 million people used Earth Day as a vehicle to demonstrate their environrn�ntal concerns. The enthusiasm for environmen­tal protection that emerged from that first Earth Day led to the ere-HSUS NEWS • Earth Day 1990 G 0 V E R N M E N T THE GLOBAL ECOLOGICAL CRISIS By Sen. Albert Gore, Jr. ation of the Environmental Pro­tection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. The environmental issues a d ­dressed by that first Earth Day were mostly local and national in scope. Today, we still fuce those original environmental problems, but we also fuce new, global chal ­lenges that were virtually unfore­seen twenty years ago. The global cooperation required to address these challenges will be unprece­dented. Earth Day 1990 is being orga­nized to overcome the sense of helplessness that many people feel in the fuce of these global challenges. It will span nations, economies, and cultures and ad­dress scores of irnpohant issues. It is rooted in a belief that peo­ple-working together-can ac­complish extraordinary things. As we begin the last decade of the century, humankind is sud ­denly entering into a brand new relationship with Planet Earth. The world's forests are being de­stroyed at the rate of one acre per second. An enormous hole is opening in the ozone layer. Liv­ing species are dying at an u n ­precedented rate, one thousand times faster than at any time in the last 65 million years. Chem­ical wastes, in growing volumes, are seeping downward to poison groundwater, while huge quan­tities of carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons are trap­ping heat in the atmosphere and raising global temperatures. From the time of Christopher Columbus to the beginning of this century, world population tripled, to 1.6 billion. In only the last sev­enty-five years, it tripled again, to 5.2 billion. We are told that, in the next seventy-five years, it will double, and perhaps even triple, again. Nearly every index of the environmental impact of modem industrial society follows the same pattern of sudden, unprece-A hazardous-waste dump is part of Sen. Albert Gore, Jr.'s "envi­ronmental vandalism on a global scale." dented acceleration. U.S. produc­tion of synthetic organic chemi­cals has gone from almost noth­ing to 225 billion pounds per year-half a ton for every Amer­ican. The world's fossil fuel use has increased ten times over, and with it, the flood of carbon diox­ide into the Earth's atmosphere. Other greenhouse gases have soared upward at similar rates: U.S. nitrogen oxide emissions are up 800 percent since 1914; meth­ane concentrations have nearly doubled; and the world's emis­sions of chlorofluorocarbons, which had not yet been invented in 1914, have increased 1:iy eighty times since World War II and are still doubling every decade, pos­ing a deadly threat to the Earth's protective ozone shield. These dramatic changes are taking place not only because the human popnlation is surging and the environmental impact of our economic activities has in­creased, but also because we tolerate self-destructive beha­vior-environmental vandalism on a global scale. The pattern of our politics has to change in the 1990s. In the last decade, we learned the hard way that the fute of our economy de­pends more than ever before on global forces. In this decade, we must come to recognize that our very survival is inextricably tied to the fute of the Earth's environ­ment. · Indeed, the environment has become a question of national security, which directly threatens the interests of all nations and the welfare of all peoples. Now, more than ever, the United States must lead the fight to secure the planet. We need to deal comprehen­sively with global warming, stratospheric ozon� depletion, 5 species loss, deforestation, ocean pollution, acid rain, air and \Vater pollution, and other threats to the WJrld's environment. In every ma­jor sector of economic activity, we must find and disseminate increas­ingly efrective new te<:hnologies; some are already well in hand, some need further work, though are well understood in principle, and some are revolutionary ideas whose very existence is still a mat ­ter of speculation. The mobilization of talent and resources required to mount such an effort has ordinarily been r e ­served for national defense, but many of us now believe that the emerging environmental threat, especially global warming and its consequences, must be regarded a genuine security threat. With this in mind, I have pro­posed that the United States launch a Strategic Environment Initiative (SEI). The obvious par­allels with the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) are intended. One doesn't have to be an admirer of SDI to see that it drew together previously scattered fucilities and 6 resources and attracted a generous share of the government's budget for research and development. We need to approach the te<:hnolog i ­cal challenge of environmental prote<:tion and sustainable eco­nomic growth with at least the same intensity-and with compar­able or greater levels of funding. With our current pattern of te<;hnology and production, we fuce economic growth in the near term and massive environmental disorder as the subsequent pen­alty. This tension between the imperatives of growth and of en­vironmental management repre­sents a supreme test for modern industrial civilization, as well as for the Third World. For the de­veloping world, the problems of reconciling economic growth and environmental protection begin where those of the developed world leave off and are com­pounded by high rates of  popula­tion growth and a massive debt burden. Yet the cooperation of Third World nations is crucial to controlling problems as vast as global warming and stratospheric owne depletion. For example, the developing world's share of greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuels could grow from about 20 percent today to as much as 50-60 percent by 2050. A Strategic Environment In­itiative would promote enviro n ­mentally sustainable development by identifying and spreading new te<:hnologies to developing coun­tries, where 95 percent of world population growth will take place during the next century. Here in the United States, SEI could modernize technologies and practices in every economic sec­tor, from more fuel-efficient cars, energy-efficient appliances, and manufacturing that relies on re­cycled material to a second green revolution requiring fewer fertil­izers and pesticides. Hnman progress in the modem era has changed the way we see ourselves in relation to the world. We now lack a sense of the proper location of our species in the ecosystem. The new pattern of thinking we must now create is one in which we once again see ourselves as a part of the ecological system which sustains us. In order to ac­complish that goal, we must transform global politics, shifting from short-term concerns to long-term goals, from conflict to cooperation. But we must also transform ourselves-or at least the way we think about ourselves, our children, and our future. That is why Earth Day 1990 is so important. In confronting the global ecological crisis, it will not be enough to change our laws, policies, and programs. The solu­tions we seek will be found in a new fuith in the future of life on Earth after our own, a fuith in the future that justifies sacrifices in the present, a new moral courage to choose higher values in the conduct of human affairs, and a new reverence for absolute prin­ciples that can serve as guiding stars for the future course of our species and our place within cre­ation. In the words of enviro n ­mental philosopher Ivan Ilych, it is time to stop running from "the shadow our future throws." 1111 Reflect for a moment ... how can I help animals �ye11)yh¢ti I no longer share their world ... 7 By your bequest for animal protection toThe Humane Society of the United States. Your will can provide for animals after you're gone. Naming The HSUS demonstrates your lastin)t commitment to animal welfare and strengtheris)he Society for this task. we will be happy to send informatio11 abot.tt()llf animal programs and material which will assistjn planning a will. Please send: Will information Name _________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   Address City _ _ _ _ _ __ _  State __ Zip, __ _   Mail in confidence to: Murdaugh s. Madden, Vice Presi­dent/Senior Counsel, The Humane Society of the United States, 2100 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037. HSUS NEWS • Earth Day I 990 

The Global Ecological Crisis

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The Global Ecological Crisis

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