The Environment

[Nurvingiel]

Russia has signed the Kyoto accord, thereby making it International Law. The concept of international law seems a bit sketchy at the moment, but at least those involved with this accord are making some sort of attempt at sustainable environmental policies, to varying degrees. (Frankly I'm not terribly impressed with Canada at the moment, but we do a decent job, and maybe this new initiative will spur us on to actually trying to acheive the goals outlined in the accord. I have hope.)

However, I can't imagine countries who didn't sign the accord saying "Oh, you guys all agreed we should do this, okay then." I mean, the non-signing countries don't agree with the Kyoto accord, or they obviously would have signed it. Here are articles relevant to Canada's involvement with the accord: link.

Canada has signed, although as I mentioned above, we haven't done much about it yet. I'd like to think that we signed the accord with the intent of doing something, but never really got around to it. I hope that now that it's international law (whatever that realistically means) we will be inspired to do something, and set an example with the rest of the world.

One incentive I've heard for good environmental policies and practices is economic gains. What if you could "trade" an "environmental credit" with other nations?

Firstly, what is an environmental credit? It would take a lot of effort to first determine a scientifically sensible and practical definition for this, and second, to agree on said definition. I suspect that the countries deciding this thing would tip the balance in their favour (either on purpose or not). If Russia or Canada were deciding, we might say an environmental credit is equal to one hectare of untouched boreal forest. Naturally, everyone else would say no way Jose!

This also poses another problem. Countries lucky enough to have a large expanse of forest within their borders will gain yet another advantage over countries with less forest. There are also many other issues with practicality and implementation.

However, we need some practical method of rewarding countries for sustainable environmental practices. Just because something works well and is fair within the constraints of a capitalist economy does not mean it's good for the world in the long run. Ocean fisheries are perhaps one of the best environmental examples.

In North America, Canada and the United States have a great potential to set an example for the world as well as significantly impact current environmental problems. Instead, we continue to exploit the resources of developping nations, use too much chemical fertilizers, and devote far too many resources to automobiles.

How does everyone feel about the current environmental policies of their respective countries?

The fact that currently, human life on this planet is not sustainable does not seem to bother people as much as it should. I think the onus is on "developped" nations to start improving the global environment, as we have partly acheived this status with the resources of "developping" nations.

Thoughts?