EU: The New Environmental Protector
With President Bush's eager help, the deregulation agenda of Big Business has taken over in a big way. So much so, that the Environmental Protection Agency, which at one time was tops in the world, now protects primarily Big Business, not the rest of us citizens. But let's not despair. The European Union is eagerly protecting the environment from the recklessness of Big Business. And even American businesses are following EU dictates because they want to sell their products in Europe. The EU is our new environmental protector!
America was the first to think about environmental protection and the first to institute an EPA to investigate pollution sources and to recommend and enforce environmental regulations to protect our citizenry. Kal Raustiala, a professor of international law at UCLA, said:
"In the enviroment, generally, we were the ones who were always out in front. Now we have tended to back off while the Europeans have become more aggressive regulators."
Indeed! We have a Healthy Forest initiative for getting rid of trees. And a Blue Skies initiative for increasing air pollution. But the EU is making American corporations scream.
The administration does not say it is against environmental protection. It merely says the protection must be "cost effective." This is another way of saying that if business says a given approach or device costs too much, it will not be used. The EU takes a much stricter approach. It follows what it calls the "precautionary principle": If it is plausible that dire effects may happen, then precautions should be taken.
Stated another way, in America the needs of business are primary; in the EU, the needs of consumers are primary.
However, the EU has come to our aid. Many American companies follow EU rules - for a smple reason: The EU consists of 25 countries and about 466 million people. This market is potentially bigger than the American market. If one considers that EU will expand further, the market becomes too big to ignore.
Now, liberals can see the beauty of globalization. Even though American businesspeople get their way at home, they must kowtow to EU's rigorous environmental standards. Eventually, these standards will be followed for American domestic sales as well.
Let's hope that what's good for the environment is good for working conditions as well. Maybe the EU will insist on inserting good working conditions into treaties, and this idea will spread.
Republicans say Democrats are against globalization. I don't think so. We are against globalization ruled solely by business. Put environmental and labor constraints into treaties and Democrats will be for this more inclusive globalization.
The EU is our new environmental protector and is showing the world the need for environmental and labor regulation. The whole world will benefit.
