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Adjustments of the tax codes are usually better than regulations as a way to discourage polluting or wasteful practices and to reward efficiency. If a person wants to drive a gas guzzler, it makes sense for him to pay higher gas and sales taxes. Farmers would quickly look for alternatives to chemical pesticides if they were taxed according to the cost of cleaning them out of the environment. Regulations are most useful as a last resort for dealing with problems, such as nuclear waste, that are too dangerous to be left to the marketplace.
If environmentalists must accept part of the blame for the present policy paralysis, they also deserve credit for some noteworthy victories this year. In a remarkably swift turnabout, Japan agreed to phase out its large-scale drift-net operations in the Pacific. Under pressure, Taiwan and South Korea have also agreed to curb the use of the giant nets, which indiscriminately trap turtles and marine mammals along with fish. In the U.S. the Interior Department banned offshore drilling in a number of sensitive areas for 10 years, buying time to understand better the interaction of oil and delicate marine ecosystems.
Among the most significant developments has been a major shift in attitude by several international corporations. Companies that in the past had an adversative relationship with conservation groups have begun to take actions that are more than public relations. Following the lead of H.J. Heinz's StarKist Seafood Co., major American tuna canners voluntarily decided to stop buying fish from fleets that carelessly kill dolphins and other marine mammals. McDonald's addressed a major solid-waste problem by switching from polystyrene to paper wrappings for its fast foods. Conoco decided to use double-hulled tankers in an effort to reduce the risk of oil spills, and it has made a commitment to lessen the impact of its exploration operations on rain forests and other sensitive ecosystems. The Houston-based oil company made the happy discovery in Gabon that shrinking the size of drilling areas and roads to minimize damage to forests saved money as well as trees.
The realization that preserving the biosphere can also save money might be the salvation of the environmental movement if the industrial world should enter a deep recession. It is true that war or an economic downturn might divert resources that could otherwise be used for such projects as restoring wetlands and rivers. But Denis Hayes, the leading organizer of Earth Day, argues that hard times might have the positive benefit of causing people and businesses to change their throwaway mentalities and adopt a more conserving approach.
The global environmental awakening has been a true populist movement, a broad-based eruption of concern noteworthy for the absence of charismatic leaders. Ordinary citizens have begun to see the connection between environmental issues and their own welfare. Now it is time for political leaders to translate public concern into effective global action. Eventually deeds must catch up with environmental rhetoric, or humanity will learn the hard way that a healthy planet is not a luxury but a necessity.