Chapter 12: The Environment and International Relations

(1)the variety of forms of life on earth, including different species of plants, animals, marine life, insects, and microorganisms (such as bacteria)(2)variability within species, such as different types of corn, cattle, or bees. The maintenance of a diverse biological world ensures that humans will have many different sources of building supplies, clothing, food, and medicine.

A chemical commonly used in propellants in aerosol cans and fire extinguishers, and as a key ingredient of refrigerants used in air conditioners. CFCs were a primary cause of the hole in the ozone layer, and have been outlawed by international multilateral agreements.

A US Congressional Act originally passed in 1963 in response to the danger of acid rain in the US and Eastern Canada and amended in 1990 to mandate limits on emissions by American power plants of sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides.

An international agreement aiming to protect and preserve biodiversity, passed in 1992.

A 1973 agreement that was the culmination of numerous international efforts, spearheaded by the United States, to reduce pollution from oil tankers.

The clearing or over-harvesting of forests, an especially acute problem in the tropics.

The view that changes in the environment like climate change necessarily and automatically will cause human beings and human communities to react in a particular manner.

The benefits and costs not reflected in a good’s price, such as ideas on how to improve a product in the future (positive externality) or pollution (negative externality).

A program managed by the World Bank and the UN that provides grants to developing countries to help them meet international legal obligations in four areas: climate change, desertification, international water pollution, and biodiversity.

Certain gases, such as carbon dioxide, that accumulate in the atmosphere and trap some of the infrared heat produced by the sun’s warming of the earth that would otherwise escape back into outer space.

A panel established by the UN in 1988 that studies climate change and informs the world of its effects.

A multilateral agreement negotiated in 1997 to reduce the total emissions of signing states. The Protocol came into effect in 2005 but was ultimately unsuccessful in curbing emissions.

A US law passed in 1972 which set limits on the number of dolphins that US tuna fleets could kill annually as a result of harvesting tuna. The law proved ineffective as implementation was weak and international parties were not answerable to US law.

An international agreement passed in 1987 that has successfully combatted the depletion of the ozone layer by banning CFCs. Ozone layers are expected to return to normal by 2050.

A situation in which individual actors acting in their own rational self-interest combine to create a situation catastrophic to all of the individuals.