Big-ideas, governance, megacities, sense of place 335From the 1960s to 1990s a whole set of issues -- wetlands, wolves, foaming rivers,
and choking air -- caught the public’s attention, especially in developed nations.
Environmentalismhad arrived as an embryonic big idea.
Acloser look is useful (McNeill2000). From the 1960s, environmental politi-
cal parties with momentum appeared, and many significant initiatives by gov-
ernment and citizens began to reduce water pollution and air pollution. In
1972 an International Conference on the Environment, which led to establish-
ing the United Nations Environment Program, put Stockholm on the map for
theburgeoning international environment community. From the 1980s, envi-
ronmental protection agencies began appearing in developing countries, India
wasrife with environmental organizations, and Kenya’s Green Belt movement
wasinfull swing. International cooperation on the environment accelerated, the
World Bank was forced into environmental awareness, the Brundtland Commis-
sion Report stimulated interest in sustainable development, and the Montreal
Protocol highlighted the valued linkage of good science and diplomacy. The
1990s brought the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de
Janeiro, where everyone spoke for the environment in development, but few
nations were willing to take the necessary steps, and a wide divide between rich
and poor nations was revealed. The Kyoto Accord produced wide international
agreement on limiting greenhouse gases, yet some key developed nations and
various developing nations refused to sign. More recently the important reports
of the International Panel on Climate Change (McCarthyet al.2001,Houghtonet
al.2001)havehighlighted human-caused effects, especially of greenhouse gases,
and their likely consequences. Twentieth-century economic growth models are
progressively modified or replaced by models with a healthy focus on ecologi-
cal and environmental economics (Chapter3). The idea of environmentalism is
rapidly maturing.
The preceding conferences, agreements, and reports are designed to govern
behavior of political units and people at the international level. Similarly, regu-
lations, codes, laws, and agreements are drafted to govern behavior at national,
state/province, and local levels. Yet regulations have to be policed and enforced,
and budgets sustained over time to support the policing of our behavior. Con-
sequently the effectiveness of the regulatory approach is uneven and frequently
changing. Around Melbourne (Australia), where cameras record traffic speeds
plus turns at busy intersections, and a parking ticket costs nearly seventy times
that in Boston, drivers tend to follow the rules. Another familiar problem with
the regulatory approach is that regulations themselves can appear, be altered,
or disappear ‘‘overnight,” in the proverbial midnight session of politicians.
Therefore, rather than being a litany of proposed regulations for urban
regions and residents’ use of natural systems, this book focuses onland-use