RIO PLUS FIVE AND GOING BACKWARD

Five years ago the leaders of 120 nations assembled at the Earth Summit in Rio
de Janeiro and signed a list of environmental pledges called Agenda 21.  Next
week (June 23-27) the U.N. General Assembly will hold a special "Rio Plus Five"
session to check their progress.

There has been no progress.

A UNEP report prepared for the meeting says that fresh water and productive
topsoil are more polluted and scarce than they were five years ago.  The
world's commercial fisheries are overfished; some have crashed.  Greenhouse gas
emissions are soaring upward, though the industrial countries pledged to keep
them at 1990 levels.  Only a few European countries even appear to care.

UNEP says: "The environment has continued to degrade ....  Progress towards a
global sustainable future is just too slow.  Internationally and nationally,
the funds and political will are insufficient ... to address the most pressing
environmental problems -- even though technology and knowledge are available to
do so.  The gap between what has been done thus far and what is realistically
needed is widening."

The NGO crowd at the U.N. -- the nongovernmental organizations, the colorful
and truthful hecklers at these global meetings -- is calling the gathering "Rio
Minus Five."

The Internet throbs with their outrage.  Here, for example, from an observer in
the Netherlands, is an assessment of the Rio pledge that nations will seek out
"sustainable patterns of consumption and production."  (Each point below
corresponds to an item in Agenda 21.  I've Americanized the language.)

1. No national government has developed a policy for sustainable consumption
and production.

2. Greater efficiency in the use of resources has been canceled by increases in
production.  Cleaner production methods have been adopted only in some OECD
countries.

3. Volumes of waste and pollution have stabilized or increased.

4. Few eco-labeling schemes exist to inform consumers.  The World Trade
Organization and corporations are squashing information on health and
environmental impacts of products.

5. Government purchases of "green" products such as recycled paper are still
marginal.

6. Environmentally sound pricing has gone nowhere.  Even a proposed small
international tax on airplane fuel was not adopted.

7. In the former Soviet bloc progress in closing down inefficient industries
has been offset by rising consumerism.  Developing countries have not met their
commitment to avoid hazardous and wasteful patterns of consumption and
production.

Those are generalities.  Here's what they look like as they play out
specifically day by day.  These are recent items; I could cite similar ones
from just about any week in the past five years.

The White House has just asked the EPA to weaken its proposed clean air
standards for smog and soot.  Scientific studies suggested higher standards to
protect public health, but industry lobbying overwhelmed health advocates such
as the American Lung Association.

Canadian scientists recently met to discuss their concern about acid rain. 
According to a report in Canada's Globe and Mail: "Most lakes in Eastern Canada
are not recovering at all ...; fish populations are not rebounding; trees
located on acid-sensitive soils ... are dying; forest growth in southern Quebec
has declined by 30 percent; current emission targets are inadequate to protect
lakes and forests."

Detroit is planning to make bigger sports vans and utility vehicles.  Ford has
one on the drawing board that will be 19 feet long and weigh twice as much as a
typical family car.  These vehicles are classified as trucks and thus escape
fuel economy and emission regulations.

A report from the Institute of Policy Studies says that the World Bank since
the Earth Summit has poured $9.4 billion into fossil fuel projects that
increase the rate of climate change.

It's not as though the Agenda 21 goals are wildly ambitious.  They were
hammered out by the world's governments, and they disappointed
environmentalists the world over.  A Greenpeace banner at the end of the Earth
Summit showed a picture of the planet stamped with the message: "SOLD."  Even
if every Agenda 21 goal were promptly met by every nation, the environment, and
every living creature that depends on the environment, including you and me,
would still be in trouble.

But you can't say that loudly at U.N. headquarters.  I tried once.  I was
hushed by officials who know full well that Agenda 21 is insufficient, but that
getting governments to go even that far will take a major effort.  (U.N.
officials, dependent upon member governments for their positions and salaries,
are necessarily timid.  I wish the paranoid folks who fear the black
helicopters could understand that.)

The good news about Rio Plus Five is that the NGOs will be there.  They are
free from the pomposity of high office, the fears of civil servants, and the
pressure of having to produce rising profits every quarter.  They can speak for
the people and the planet.  If there's anything worth listening to at Rio Plus
or Minus Five, it will be them.

(Donella H. Meadows is an adjunct professor of environmental studies at
Dartmouth College.)

Kerlek, terjesszetek magyar (vagy mas Kelet-Europai)egyetemeken.  Kulonosen 
erdekelne energiaval foglalkozo egyetemi oktatok jelentkezese....
Legyszives ne nalam erdeklodjetek (en semmi tobbet sem tudok), hanem az alabb 
megadott internet-oldalakon.  KOszi.  Diana.

 The Curriculum Resource Center is an outreach program of 
CEU/OSI that assists teachers in higher education in the region by 
sponsoring week long visits to CEU.  During this visit, teachers are 
given photocopy allowance, book stipend, the opportunity to make
contacts with CEU faculty and staff, as well as other opportunities 
which hopefully will enrich their contacts in the region, and bring 
materials back to their home university.

CRC has sponsored several hundred such visits, yet we still would 
like to reach far more university teachers in the region, and offer
them the opportunity to visit CEU.  I request your assistance in
achieving this goal.  As all of you have acquaintances with university 
teachers in your home country, I would greatly appreciate it if you
could disseminate to interested persons/faculties in your country the 
CRC schedule and the Application Form. 
The application form will also be available at your Local Soros
Foundations.  Furthermore, we would like you to encourage those 
with the access to Internet to use the application form which is
available on our site (www.ceu.hu./crc/ ). 

Dr. Urge-Vorsatz Diana, Professor
Dept. of Envrionmental Sciences and Policy
CEU

Henrik Skolimowski okofilozofus eloadasa 
	julius 2-an 17 orakor

Helyszin: a Varosvedok szekhaza (VI., Eotvos  u.1o)

Gyertek el lehetoleg minel tobben.

Udv: 
Fidusz/ETK

Ui.: Gondolom, Skolimowski-t nem kell bemutatni nektek, a Sajtszemlebol ill. 
Piros nemreg megjelent konyvebol ugyis ismeritek...