Word: beginning
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...commitment to family planning at home and abroad. Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, points out that humanity consumes or wastes 40% of the total amount of energy stored by photosynthesis in terrestrial vegetation. No one knows how much more people can devour before they begin to exhaust resources and crowd out vital ecosystems. Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute argues that global annual food production already falls short of human consumption and that environmental degradation reduces yields 1% annually at a time when world population is growing...
...meantime, the U.S. should begin to take unilateral action. The centerpiece of such a policy should be a comprehensive drive to cut gaseous emissions by conserving energy. Whether or not global warming is an imminent threat, curbing energy use would produce a more breathable atmosphere and reduce American dependence on unreliable foreign sources of fossil fuels...
...raise energy prices and let free-market forces do the job of stimulating conservation. First, the federal gasoline tax should be increased substantially -- to at least 60 cents per gal., from the current 9 cents per gal., over the next four years. At the same time, the Government could begin setting up a program to tax the use of all fossil fuels. The size of the tax should vary according to how much carbon is released into the atmosphere when a particular fuel is burned. That would encourage a shift in consumption patterns away from high-pollution fuels like coal...
Climate Change. This month UNEP, the Climate Institute and the government of Egypt will sponsor a World Climate Conference in Cairo. Its aim: to begin laying the groundwork for a global convention to limit the emission of greenhouse gases and stabilize the world's climate...
...National Bank of Chicago, wondered whether the Poles' eagerness will prove to have been "monumental courage or sheer folly." While none of the Americans doubted the commitment to reform at the top of the Polish government, some questioned how it would be received once subsidies are ended and prices begin fluctuating. "It will depend on the political prowess and strength of the government," said Yeutter. "There will inevitably be some slippage...