Globalization and Environmental Issues

1. Globalization and Environmental Issues

2. Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster The Ukrainian city of Chernobyl was the site of the worst nuclear disaster in the post-1945 world. Incompetent operators and the inherently unsafe design caused a reactor to explode on April 26, 1986. Over 100,000 people were evacuated. 30 people died immediately and hundreds died later from exposure to radioactive materials.

5. Global Warming

6. Kyoto Protocol Signed on March 15, 1999, the Kyoto Protocol is an agreement under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Countries that ratify commit to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts a rise in temperature of 1.4� C (2.5� F ) to 5.8 �C between 1990 and 2100. If successfully and completely implemented, the Protocol will reduce that increase between 0.02 �C and 0.28 �C by 2050.

7. Kyoto Protocol The U.S. is a signatory to the protocol, but has neither ratified nor withdrawn. The Senate stated that the U.S. should not sign any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for both developing and industrialized nations. President George W. Bush indicated that he does not intend to submit the treaty for ratification because of the strain he believed it would put on the economy. He emphasized the uncertainties which he asserts are present in the climate change issue.

8. Hubbert Peak Theory The Hubbert Peak Theory states that oil reserves are not replenishable and oil production must inevitably peak and decline. Controversy surrounds the theory. M. King Hubbert noticed that the discoveries in the U.S. peaked in the 1930s, and concluded that production would peak in the 1970s. The US peaked in 1971. OPEC was able to manipulate oil prices, leading to the oil crisis in 1973. Most other countries have also peaked.

9. Globalization �Globalization� is a series of economic, social, technological and political changes that increase interdependence and interaction between people in disparate locations. Globalization Debates: whether it occurs from 'above' (through government and state actions) or 'below' (through civil society actions) supporters see it as economic savior for the world's poor opponents consider it oppressive to the developing world, destroying local culture and contributing to global warming.

10. NATO Expansion NATO began as an alliance against the Eastern Bloc NATO was expanded since the collapse of Communism in Europe. The first post-Cold War expansion of came with the reunification of Germany in 1990. In 1994, NATO took its first military action, shooting down 4 Bosnian Serb aircraft violating a UN no-fly zone. NATO air strikes helped end war in Bosnia, resulting in the Dayton Agreement.

11. NATO Expansion Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbors were set up In 1999, 3 former communist countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, joined NATO. In 1999, NATO saw its first broad-scale military engagement in the Kosovo War. An 11-week bombing campaign forced Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milo�evic to accept UN resolution 1244. NATO helped establish the KFOR, a NATO-led force under a U.N. mandate that operated the military mission in Kosovo.

12. NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement, (NAFTA) is a trade agreement among Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. It went into effect on January 1, 1994. NAFTA called for immediately eliminating duties on half of all U.S. goods shipped to Mexico and Canada, and gradually phasing out other tariffs. Provisions regarding worker and environmental protection were added later. Unlike the European Union, NAFTA does not create a set of supranational governmental bodies, nor does it create a body of law which is superior to national law. 

13. NAFTA There was opposition on both sides of the border. The U.S. House passed NAFTA by 234-200 (132 Republicans and 102 Democrats voting in favor) U.S. Senate passed it by 61-38. One of the effects of NAFTA has been the significant increase in bilingual and trilingual labeling on products.

14. GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was created by the Bretton Woods Conference. The GATT was part of a plan for economic recovery after WWII. It included a reduction in tariffs and other international trade barriers. In 1948 it was signed by 23 countries. In 1994, GATT was updated ("GATT 1994") . One of the most significant changes was the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

15. WTO GATT members and the European Communities founded the WTO in 1995. The WTO is an international, multilateral organization, which sets the rules for the global trading system and resolves disputes between member states. The agreement is based on the "''unconditional most favored nation principle�: conditions applied to the most favored trading nation (i.e. the one with the least restrictions) apply to all trading nations. As of 2005, there are 149 members.

16. WTO The WTO has been a major target for protests by the anti-globalization movement. One of the largest and most successful protests occurred during the 1999 Seattle WTO conference. The negotiations were overshadowed by large street protests outside the venues. Because of the disruptions in the Seattle rounds, negotiations were not begun until the next meeting which was held at Doha, Qatar, a locale easier to control and police.