Environment: Carrot And

Any environmentalist can reel off a long list of grievous problems confronting the planet -- from acid rain and global warming to the destruction of tropical rain forests. The hard part is getting people to do something about them. Last week two fresh ideas for encouraging environmental activism were proposed, one a carrot, the other a stick.

The carrot is an annual $360,000 cash award -- the largest environmental prize ever -- to be split among six "grassroots heroes," each from a different region of the world. Made possible by San Francisco's Goldman Environmental Foundation, the award will recognize "important efforts...