Local action in a new world order.

• Author: McCallum, Scott
• Position: Trade and the Environment

1. Pollution is Local

   Those who monitor the workings of government tend to focus on the largest political systems and institutions in analyzing the environmental potential of the New World Order. As a consequence, the emphasis remains on relationships among nations and on redefined roles for environmental bureaucracies of national governments. Even the United Nations - a mega-institution - is getting attention as an environmental convener and broker. National governments and the United Nations should get their due, but only up to a point. While the Rio Conference series to rally environmentalists worldwide and attempted to set the framework for a common agenda, we now will settle back into the day-to-day task of protecting our environment. To paraphrase an axiom in politics, "all pollution is local."

   Public awareness and concern over environmental damage can only be raised if it is felt locally. Global warming does not seem serious to a person experiencing a Wisconsin winter; the language of the North American Free Trade Agreement seems rather abstract unless the fact that particulate matter in the jet stream from Mexico is polluting Lake Michigan is made clearer.(1) Even then, the seriousness of the problem is beat understood by those who actually fish or swim in the lake.

   When environmental problems are localized, our local institutions will respond more readily. Attention should be paid to the environmental actions of political subdivisions, such as state governments in the United States, provinces in Canada, or the autonomous republics in what was the Soviet Union. A closer look reveals cooperation among these local units. Environmental problems have fostered intercontinental relationships between and among small businesses, universities, and nonprofit interests at state and local levels. Sometimes these "small but beautiful" environmental initiatives are documented in local newspapers, national journals and the popular media. However, they often seem to take on the character of feature stories with heroes and heroines, victims and villains; they are not taken seriously as important ingredients in humanity's response to the challenge to manage planet earth for its own survival. These state and local experiences and initiatives are relegated to a lesser status than those undertaken by the "giants," even though they possess considerable potential for environmental progress and human understanding.

   Therefore, it is time to recognize and develop the potential of the states as coordinated and coordinating actors in an international institutional family - a family created through people-to-people relationships and strengthened by free enterprise, enhanced by technology transfer, and communicated in a world of facsimiles, satellites and computers. Indeed, just as states, cities and other sub-national communities have become active participants in the international marketplace - through trade missions, foreign offices and export policies - they can embrace opportunities for environmental improvement initiatives. These initiatives have the potential to lift everyone's "economic boat" while progressing toward higher environmental standards that will protect the developing world's resources and developed world's economic viability. An patchwork makes the quilt, so will the work now being done at the local level become the defining characteristics of the global environmental picture.

2. A State's Potential

   Building a case for a new state-to-state environmental dimension within the New World Order is possible by reviewing the experience and potential of one state - Wisconsin. With a distinguished record of natural resources protection and management, Wisconsin is well-positioned to become a meaningful catalyst for positive environmental change that reaches far beyond its Midwest borders.

   There is a certain irony in reviewing Wisconsin's potential and its work to seize the window of global economic and environmental opportunity. Nestled in the Midwest, far from the coasts, Wisconsin has a history of isolationism and independence. Today this isolationism has transcended to a state whose economy relies heavily on exports. Provisions of North American trade agreements become important to Wisconsin which trades extensively with Canada and Mexico.(2)

   Yet, the same philosophy of good government that sustained the Wisconsin Progressives during its isolationism earlier this century continues to influence values, priorities, and thinking in the politics of Wisconsin today. Both Republicans and Democrate have actively responded to concerns about the land, water, and natural resources, and environmental protection language of trade pacts. This bonding between the people and their leaders over environmental issues is rooted in our culture and nurtured by a people who value natural resources deeply and a state government whose environmental record is one of the most accomplished in the nation.

   It wasn't always that way. Wisconsin's experience in the area of natural resources is testimony to what determination, innovation and sacrifice of short-term gains for long-term sustainability can do. A century ago, Wisconsin's virgin forests were cleared to build cities such as Chicago and St. Louis. A century ago, Wisconsin's slaughterhouse wastes turned rivers red. Today, Wisconsin's reforested North Woods are living proof to the success of public-private partnerships, innovative fiscal commitments, and the efforts of professional foresters employed by the state. Wisconsin was the first state to meet the Clean Water Act's federally-mandated, fishable-swimmable standards;(3) waters once devoid of many fish species are now repopulated. Even the state's most industrialized rivers are so clean that they attract daily recreational users and developers catering to the exclusive buyer. In its effort to build and sustain its environmental record in forestry, water soil, outdoor recreation, air quality, material management, and a myriad of other natural resources subjects, the state set high expectations for its businesses, government and university system. And each delivered with impressive results. Wisconsin businesses met - and exceeded - high state environmental standards. In doing so, they developed new knowledge and equipment that are now nationally and globally marketable.

   Wisconsin state government long ago integrated...