Editors' note
| Author | American University Washington College of Law |
| Pages | 1 |
Page 1
In the last twelve months, "clean technology" hit prime time in the political arena. Nearly every campaign, every meeting of international leaders, and every town hall has lauded clean and green technology as the solution to the job crisis, the credit crisis, the climate crisis, and every other conceivable modern ill. Through cleaner, greener technologies we can make our air clearer, our planet cooler, and our lives more prosperous. Like any vague promise, these discussions of clean technology have not only fostered hope and brought out the skeptics and cynics, but are also beginning to fuel real debate as to the future of this emerging sector.
In this issue our staff set out to explore the current discourse in the clean technology field, beyond political rhetoric and campaign policy speeches. What we learned is both distressing and heartening. It seems that the world has barely taken a step down the path to cleaner technological solutions, and we have a great distance to travel before the panacea of clean technology can generate the types of benefits we seek. However, as this issue details, the debate is moving forward and countries around the world-from the United States to India-are testing innovative approaches on how to further global cleantech development and trade.
Our contributors from all over the planet examine the distance that we have traveled through proposed and promulgated policies, legislation, and regulations. And more importantly, they examine the road ahead and the major obstacles that we will need to break down, bypass, and overcome. An added feature of this issue of Sustainable Development Law & Policy is an introduction that strives to incorporate a perspective often overlooked in cleantech debates: the human perspective. The editors and staff of SDLP feel that throughout both high-level policy discussions and local implementation, we must remember the founding tenets of sustainable development by continuing to make the linkages between its environmental, economic, and social dimensions. In the context of cleantech and global warming, this most certainly includes a discussion of human rights. From there, articles cover the international trade and intellectual property regimes that keep clean technology from being freely disseminated. They scrutinize the current and speculate on the future positions of major international players, like China, India, the United States, the World Bank, and the WTO. And they consider how we're going to pay for it all.
We hope you enjoy this compilation of articles, which we feel provides an excellent overview of a few of the most pressing issues in the clean technology debate. As this debate intensifies in the coming months, we hope this issue of SDLP will help push the discourse beyond rhetoric and towards action.
