The Environment— Protecting the Global Commons 401Pollution and climate change
As pressures on the global commons mount, the quality of geographic space dimin-
ishes. In the 1950s and 1960s, several events dramatically publicized the deteriorating
quality of the commons. The oceanographer Jacques Cousteau warned of the degrada-
tion of the ocean, a warning made prescient by the 1967 Torrey Canyon oil spill off
the coast of Eng land. Rachel Carson’s best-selling 1962 book Silent Spring warned
of the impact of pesticides and chemicals on the environment.^2 Carson highlighted the
paradoxical effect of pesticides such as DDT— which could dramatically reduce the
spread of diseases like malaria, but at the same time, devastated the reproductive cycle of
wildfowl and ultimately caused cancer in humans. Millions of Americans and many
others worldwide, who had never thought about the links between pesticides, the eco-
system, and human health outcomes were suddenly aware of these connections and
became concerned about the damage. More people became aware that human activity
associated with agricultural and industrial practices is degrading the natu ral world, and
that humans do not exist separately from the natu ral world. Economic development in
agriculture and industry has negative externalities— costly unintended consequences—
for every one, as well as positive consequences.
Although many negative externalities may be local, some have national and inter-
national implications. Take the case of energy. To meet a rising demand for oil, the
United States and China have turned to the oil sands of Alberta, Canada. In times of high
oil prices, it becomes eco nom ically profitable to convert those sands to oil for refine-
ment into gasoline. Multinational corporations have heavi ly invested in the operation.
Deleterious environmental externalities are, however, increasingly evident. The extractive
pro cess, for example, requires a massive withdrawal of water, disturbing fish populations
and adversely affecting water quality. Tailing ponds containing toxic extraction residues
have proliferated, imperiling wildlife. And forests are cut— the same forests that provide
carbon sinks to slow the escalation of global warming.
Halfway around the world, China’s thirst for energy has led to increased coal usage.
Coal- burning power plants emit soot, toxic chemicals, and gases, which, with weather
inversions, create air pollution not only over China, neighboring Korea, and Japan but
also over the west coast of the United States. These sulfur dioxide emissions carry known
health risks, including respiratory and heart disease and certain kinds of cancer. China
is now taking critical initiatives to replace polluting plants, but air pollution alerts in
major Chinese cities are frequent.
In addition, the rivers that facilitate the transport of ships and commerce and that
provide water for industry and human consumption can carry pollution across state
bound aries. On October 4, 2010, for example, the wall of a storage pond used for toxic
“red sludge” near the town of Kolontar in Hungary ruptured, and a massive wall of
caustic red slime flooded nearby towns— killing four people and injuring more than