international treaties.
– Ban or reduce nondegradable plastic bags in stores and require shoppers
to bring their own bags.
– Enforce international treaties that ban the sale of products from
endangered species (e.g., shark fins for soup, coral jewelry, and whale
meat harvested by Japan, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, Russia,
United States (by indigenous people in Alaska), and South Korea).RELEVANT LAWS
ANTARCTIC TREATY (1961): Regulates international relations with
respect to Antarctica, Earth’s only continent without a native human
population. The treaty currently has 53 parties and sets aside Antarctica as a
scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigations, and bans
military activity on that continent.COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT ACT (1972): Encouraged coastal
states to develop and implement coastal zone management plans to preserve,
protect, develop, and, where possible, restore or enhance the resources of
coastal zones.“SAFE HARBOR AGREEMENTS”: A voluntary agreement involving
private or other non-Federal property owners whose actions contribute to the
recovery of species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered
Species Act (ESA).LAKES
Lakes are large, natural bodies of standing freshwater formed when
precipitation, runoff, or groundwater seepage fills depressions in Earth’s surface.
Most lakes on Earth are located in the Northern Hemisphere at higher
latitudes and are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, areas with
ongoing or recent glaciations, and along the courses of mature rivers. Processes
that form lakes include: (1) tectonic uplift of a mountain range that creates a
depression that accumulates water; (2) advance and retreat of glaciers that scrape
depressions in Earth’s surface where water accumulates (e.g., the Great Lakes of