Planet Of The Year: Hands Across the Sea

Rich and poor, north and south, nations must get it together or face common disaster

It is easy to draw up a plan of action for protecting the earth. But that plan will fail unless it is forged with international fellowship and carried out on a global scale. How much good can one country do by reducing carbon- dioxide emissions if another nation offsets that with an increased output of CO2? How can one country keep its beaches clean if its neighbor down the coast dumps sewage or syringes into the sea? "On most environmental questions, the nation-state is obsolete," said Pace University's Nicholas Robinson. "We have to talk about multinational cooperation."

The first goal of...

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