New political organizations The emergence of new political organizations in Western Europe and North America is as important to protection of the environment as the new organizations are to the economies of the constituent nations. Many feel that these organizations are a logical consequence of the internationalization of industry and commerce, and the formation of multinational corporations, and that they are now more feasible because of advanced communications systems. They reflect the need for individual nations to expand their markets and their technological base in the face of growing competition and the increasing sophistication of technology. Multinational communities are also preferred to expanding markets and resources by war. Multinational communities are also required for environmental protection. Indeed, without international cooperation, the natural environment may be doomed. Ultimately, this means that a single standard must exist for the entire industrial enterprise and for all countries, but in the interim, the industrial nations must unite in developing international standards for air, water, and soil quality, for control of industrial emissions, and for preservation of natural communities. The European Community is moving very quickly to develop Community-wide standards for environmental protection, and already these actions are having a profound impact on the way many of the participating nations are configuring their national environmental protection apparatus. The Communitywide environmental standards of the EC are an important symbol of the new order of governments, and they will be a model for many similar arrangements in other parts of the world. The multinational community in the Americas is not as well organized as the EC, and many feel that it is based on precepts that are fundamentally different than those that prevail in Western Europe. However, while it may be true that the three nations, Canada, Mexico, and the United States, bring to an association a different mixture of resources than one finds in the EC, there are still many similarities between the two associations. Both the EC and the proposed North American economic community reflect the need for nations to cooperate and coordinate, and even unite, in order to compete more effectively in the world community. 6
Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 26, No. 1, 1992
The North American alliance is different in that it will unite three countries at different stages of development. Some feel that Mexico will be at a distinct disadvantage in the consortium; that it is too poor and too underdeveloped to be an equal partner. But Mexico has vast natural and human resources and in some respects it has the advantage of being able to consider innovative answers to old problems without the disadvantage of an inflexible system. Mexico will be at a disadvantage, however, if it allows this opportunity to pass without instituting tough measures to protect its environment and to improve public health. Its environment will be further degraded as industrialization expands. Wastes will accumulate and cause the same problems they have caused in the United States if waste minimization and recycling are not required. New industries that move to Mexico, as well as existing industry, must be required to install these measures, and to protect workers to the highest standards. Mexico would also do well to consider new methods to encourage waste minimization and waste recycling, beyond the regulatory and free market systems that the United States has used. Methods should also be considered to require “foreign” industries to contribute funds to national efforts to protect sensitive environments. The quid pro quo for the industries will be lower wage costs, a fair trade for a reasonable tax to protect the environment. For those of us who still think of North America or Western Europe as groups of separate countries in the traditional sense, it is difficult to imagine what a united Europe or a united Americas would be like. Whatever they become, let us hope that environmental and public health protection will be as important as economics.
0013-936X/92/0926-6$02.50/0 @ 1991 American Chemical Society
