In the following excerpt from his book Earth in the Balance, Vice President-elect Gore describes what he believes should be components of the U.S. role in this  Global Marshall Plan --a  new global economics.  Then he describes what happened at the Earth Summit and where we all go from here

Gore, Albert, Jr.

English

WBI Studies Repository (WellBeing International)

THE U.S. ROLE IN SAVING THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT As THE WORLD 'S LEADI NG EXEMPLAR OF free market economics, the United States has a special obligation to discover effec-tive ways of using the power of market forces to help save the global environment. further thought. Since it has been dis-counted into insignificance, they figure we can just forget about it. And meanwhile we go on preaching to the rest of the world that our brand of market economics takes crease in the amount of interest companies show in improving the efficiency of their processes in order to reduce the pollution they cause. To most of us, the principle sounds Yet even as we correctly point out the dismal failures of communism, and even as we push the underdeveloped world- appropriately, in my view- to adopt a market-based approach to econom-ics, we have been reluctant to admit our failure to bring en-vironmental values into our economic decisions. Further, the Bush administration has shown little interest in chang-ing the government policies that presently distort the ptin-ciples of market economics in ways that encourage the destruction of the environ-ment. Many U.S. policymakers seem content to leave the en-vironmental consequences of our economic choices in the large wastebasket of econom-Exhaust containing dangerous cnrbon monoxide, a direct cause of the greenhouse effect, is emitted from an automobile. Opposite: a carbou·coated smokestack burns tar paper, tires, and other discarded waste, releasing toxic gases into the atmosphere in the process. Pollution is waste-what's left O\'Cr from the production of goods, says rice President ·elect Gore. Reducing pollution-(!conomic waste-increases profits and makes our industries more competitive in the global marketplace. unassailable: let the polluter pay. But what about when it applies to each of us instead of to a nameless, faceless, corporation? For example, rather than require homeown-ers to pay higher property taxes to cover the cost of garbage collection, why not lower property taxes and then charge for garbage collection directly- by the pound '7 Those responsible for creat-ing more garbage would pay more; those who found ways to cut down would pay less. The interest m recycling might rise dramatically And when choosi ng between prod-ucts at the store. people might even start avoiding wmeces-sary and bulky packaging if they knew it was going to end ic theory labeled externalities. Anything that economists wish to forget about is called an externality and then ban-ished from serious thought. For example, consider this analysis by President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers of the im-pact of global warming on agriculture: The costs of today s agricultural policies are estimated to be more important in eco-nomic terms than even pessimistic esti-mates of the effects of global warming, largely because the f ormer must be borne in the present and the latter may occur, if at all, in the relatively distant f uture. That's it. As far as the council is con-cerned, global warming need be given no HSUS NEWS • Winter 1993 everything into account in the most effi-cient way imaginable. What if we took a broader view and be-gan incorporating factors affecting the en-vironment into our economic system? How would we do it? Well, here are some specific proposals. None is likely to be more effective than finding ways to put a price on the environ-mental consequences of our choices, a price that would then be reflected in the marketplace. For example, if \Ve were to tax the pollution dumped by factories into the air and water, we would get less of it. And we might well notice a sudden in-up in their garbage. There is an economic rule of thumb: whatever we tax, we tend to get less of; whatever we subsidize, we tend to get more of. Currently, we tax work and we subsidize the depletion of natural re-sources-and both policies have con-tributed to high unemployment and the waste of natural resources. What if we lowered the tax on work and simultaneous-ly raised it on the burning of fossil fuels? It is entirely possible to change the tax code in a way that keeps the total amount of taxes at the same level, avoids unfair-ness and "regressivity," but discourages the constant creation of massive amounts of pollution. 31 The United Nations Conferenc.e on Environment and Development was a tuming point for a world try-ing to confront an unprecedented global ecological crisis. The Earth Sl.llll-mit laid the groundwork for meaningful changes in policies in every nation to stop the, destruction of the Earth. Leaders around the world are now thinking about the same;.,cha!lenge at the same time in a new way. At the Earth Summit, there was the re-alization that this crisis is visible around the, globe: the disappearance of the Aral Sea, the burning of the rain forests, the disappearance of living species at a rate one thousand times faster than the natural extinction rate, the tragedy of Love Canal, theg~rbage crsis, . the oil spill in Alas~a, the dead dolphins in the GuJf of Mexico, the .dead seals in the North .. Sea and the dead starfish in the White Sea, and the 37,000 children who die each day from preventable disease and malnutrition. A number of dramatic changes made it possible for the Earth Summit to take place. For instance, people all over the world are beginning to feel that they are part of a single global civilization. We are a community of separate nations and we shall remain so, but we face a global envi-ronmental crisis that demands an intema-tional response. We must construct a com-mon agenda for solving those problems. Most qf the world now agrees that freydom. is a prerequisite for solving the global environmental crisis. As people whq care about the .future of our world, we must make a compact with one another to struggle against the enemies of freedom. Dictatorship is an enemy of freedom. Communism is an enemy of freedom. Ig-norance is an enemy of freedom. Corrup-tion is an enemy of freedom. Racism and sexism, exploitation and oppression are enemies of freedom, and everywhere we look in the world today, wherever the human spirit is crushed, wherever individuals feel powerless and live out their lives in fear that they have no meaning or purpose, human beings and the environment suffer. We have an obligation to link around the world the democracy movement and the environmental movement. We also have an obligation to redefine the relationship between civilization and the Earth. Through the scientific and tech-nological revolutions in particular, we have fundamentally changed the way in which we interact with our environment. 32 THE MES'SAGE OF Technology has separated us from the nat~ ural world that sustains us and has blinded us to the harmful environmental impact of our current patterns of development. International agreeme11ts such as the Montreal Protocol, which limits the amount of chlorofluorocarbons (or CFCs) that can be released into the atmosphere, give us cause for hope. And, at the Earth Summit, an agreement was reached that lays the groundwork for achieving re~ duced emissions of greenhouse gases. We must build on these successes by making a commitment to research and develop new technologies that allow and foster econqmic progress without environmental destruction. Moving these programs and initiatives from the bottom of the list of priorities to tq~ top means investing in.the future .and in a growing economy that will produce new jobs and increase productivity. It means new business and increasing prof-its. By protecting our natural resources, we preserve the foundation for economic progress. Environmental efficiency helps busi-nesses become more competitive. After all, pollution really is waste- what's left over from the production of goods. Re-ducing pollution--economic waste-in-creases profits and makes our industries more competitive. Japan and Germany have already rec-ognized and started to take advantage of this new way of thinking. Both of these competitors openly proclaim that the biggest new market in the history of world HSUS NEWS • Winter 1993 -- -- - - - -- - -~ - ..... THE EARTH SUMMIT business is the market for the new prod-ucts and processes that will foster eco-nomic progress without environmental destruction. In fact, the global market for environ-mental. technologies is currently at about $270 billion a year and is growing at 7 percent a year. Meanwhile, we now im-port many of the environmental technolo-gies we once pioneered. For exan1ple, we import 70 percent of our pollution-control technologies and we are net importers of solar and wind-energy technologies. The companies with the best environ-mental strategies will lead business in the twenty-first century. They are among the most competitive and profitable. Here in the United States, for example, the 3M Corporation saves millions of dollars each HSUS NEWS • Winter 1993 year through its "Pollution Prevention Pays" program. At the heart of these business and gov-ernment, individual and collective, state and global initiatives to foster economic growth without harming the environment is a shared understanding reached by all who participated in the Earth Summit: we must reevaluate and repair our relation-ship with the world that sustains us. We must work to create a better world for the generations to come. The Earth Summit showed us that we can achieve our goals, both individually as sovereign nations and as a global com-munity. We are one world. We have com-mon commitments. And we share a com-mon hope for the future of this Earth.-Albert Gore, Jr. The sun is obscured in filth-filled atmosphere. caused by emissions from a pulp mill in Canada. Inset (top): a shipment of pulpwood headed for the manufacturer: (bottom): bundled newspapers destined for recycling can decrease the production of paper made from rirgin wood. The vice prcsident·clcct has propo ed a nlnteri· als fee that paper mills, for example. would pay based on the percentage of paper they make from freshly cut trees as opposed to recycled pulp and paper. Fee payers would qualify for tax credits toward purchasing rCC) · cling equipment and collecting rccyclables. Accordingly, I propose: 1. That we create an Environmental Security Trust Fund, with payments in-to the fund based on the amount of CO, put into the atmosphere. Production of gasoline, heating oil and other oil-based fuels, coal, natural gas, and electricity gen-erated from fossil fuels would trigger in-cremental payments of the CO, tax accord-ing to the carbon content of the fuel s pro-duced. These payments would be reserved in a trust fund, which would be used to subsidize the purchase by consumers of environmentally benign technologies-such as low-energy light bulbs or high-mileage automobiles. A corresponding re-duction in the amount of taxes paid on in-comes and payrolls in the same year would ensure that the trust fund plan does not raise taxes but leaves them as they are- while having sufficient flexibility to ensure progressivity and to deal equitably with special hardships encountered in the transition to renewable energy sources (such as those faced by someone with no immediate alternative to the purchase of large quantities of heating oil, gasoline, or the like) . I am convinced that a C0 1 tax which is completely offset by decreases in other taxes is rapidly becoming politically feasible. But C02 taxes will not be enough to stop the profligate waste of virtually all other natural resources, and as a result I al-so propose: 2. That a Virgin Materials Fee be im-posed on products at the point of manu-facture or importation based on the quantity of nonrenewable, virgin mate-rials built into the product. For example, paper mills would be charged a materials fee on the basis of the percentage of their paper made from freshly cut trees as op-posed to recycled pulp and paper. The manufacturers and processors paying the tax would then qualify for tax credits to subsidize the purchase of equipment nec-essary for recycling and for the efficient collection and use of recycled materials, assuming confirmation of a net environ-mental benefit. 33 In addition to these two broad propos-als, I also recommend several other specif-ic changes in U.S. policy that would rewrite our economic rules of the road for the sake of the environment: 3. The government should adopt a policy of purchasing environmentally appropriate substitutes wherever they are competitive-taking into account full life-cycle costs-with older, less responsi-ble technology. For example, it should re-place every light bulb (when it wears out) with one of the new long-life bulbs that consume only a fraction as much electrici-ty to produce the same amount of light. The government should also be required to purchase recycled paper in amounts that each year represent a larger percentage of its total needs until virtually all the paper it uses is recy-cled. If the govern-ment- with its substan-tial needs-can lead by example, it can make a tremendous difference to the ability of the new product manufacturer to achieve economies of scale and become viable enough to break into the market. for manufacturers to compete by cutting corners. The Bush administration- inex-plicably- has fought hard against such standards. 6. Utility rate reform must encourage full use of conservation and efficiency measures. At present, some state govern-ments are moving aggressively on this front, but federal policy has lagged far be-hind. All utilities should encourage con-servation rather than build new generating capacity; helping to finance conservation has proved remarkably effective. Finally, utilities should be encouraged to plant forests to offset some portion of the C02 they generate. careful attention to the deep social and at-titudinal causes of America's relative eco-nomic decline, some of which also con-tribute to the environmental crisis: • The neglect of our human resources and falling levels ofproficiency in literacy, numeracy, geography, and basic reasoning skills. • Our unwillingness to make decisions with an eye to their long-term effects, cou-pled with our insistence on basing strategy on short-term time horizons: for example, the practice of rewarding business leaders on the basis of quarterly earnings, the will-ingness of investors to allocate capital on the basis of short-term profits instead of the quality of the goods produced, jobs provided, and long-term market share gained; the ten-dency of political lead-ers to base important de-cisions on the percep-tion of their impact on the next election or even on the next public opin-ion polls. • Our complacent pursuit of outdated strategies that used to work in the postwar markets, when we were the only strong econo-my left in the free world, but that have long since been sur-passed by more stream-lined and effective sn·at-egies. 4. The government must establish higher mileage requirements for all cars and trucks sold in the United States. Although the carbon taxes and corre-sponding subsidies of the Environmental Secu-rity Trust Fund will be far more effective in ac-Ruins of a rain forest in Central America marl; what was once a raried. beautiful, life-supporting ecosystem. According to \'ice President-elect Gore, government officials attending the Earth Summit recognized that an unprecedented global environmental crisis is at hand: together, world leaders are now thinking in a new way about the challenges the crisis presents. • Our tolerance of government and indus-try working at cross pur-poses and failing to plan together or find ways to celerating the transition to more efficient vehicles, mandated im-provements in the average fuel economy can be an important supplementary mea-sure. With two of the largest automobile manufacturing plants in the world located in my own state, I have faced an awkward political problem in supporting tougher mileage requirements, and I do recognize some of the very real practical difficulties with the proposed legislation. Neverthe-less, the amount of C02 emissions in the United States is so great that I think even imperfect measures to force remedial ac-tion are better than none at all. 5. Efficiency standards throughout the economy-for buildings, for indus-trial motors and engines, and for appli-ances-must also be strengthened. With tougher standards, there is less temptation 34 7. Tree-planting programs- with care-fully selected seedlings appropriate to the areas being planted and careful fol-low-up to ensure tree survival- should be part of workfare programs in com-munities where work requirements are attached to welfare payments. Similarly, tree-planting projects should be given higher priority in summer jobs programs for teenagers. 8. Accelerated phaseout of all ozone-destroying chemicals. We should also subsidize the development of truly benign substitutes. There are, of course, many other prob-lems that must be attended to if the gov-ernment is going to play the key, construc-tive role necessary for it to lead the world environmental movement. We need to pay resolve persistent con-flicts, not according to the Japanese mod-el , but according to an original and innova-tive American model of a kind that existed in past national efforts such as the Apollo Program. • Our inability to translate new discov-eries in the laboratory into new advantages for American companies and workers . All of these problems are deeply inter-related and all, I believe, can be solved with the same shift in thinking and a fo-cused national effort represented by the Strategic Environment Initiative and the Global Marshall Plan. • From the book Earth in the Balance b)· Sen. AI Gore, published by Houghton Mif jlin Company, New York, © 1992 by Sena-tor Al Gore. Reprinted by permission. HSUS NEWS • Winter 1993 

The U.S. Role in Saving the Global Environment

Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy

https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1138&context=newshsus

The U.S. Role in Saving the Global Environment

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