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The article profiles government policies concerning so-called bioprospecting, where plants and natural resources are invested in for their perceived social benefits. The article discusses a range of issues, including the historical context, regulatory frameworks, the commercial use of biodiversity, access to biodiversity and the sharing of benefits, key policy issues, and a case study concerning the African plant Hoodia. The author also comments on the economic impact of bioprospecting on developing countries.

The article looks at U.S. environmental politics, policies, and the common good. According to the article, throughout American history, the dominant policies of the U.S. have been to promote the economic exploitation of natural resources. Some U.S. environmental policies have also included initiatives to manage and protect the natural environment, such as water management projects and controlling pollution. The article discusses public health, federal conservation, and sanitation policies, the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act, the limits of current environmental policies, and international environmental diplomacy.

Presents an analysis of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush's Global Climate Change Initiative, a proposal which addresses U.S. climate change policy. Question of whether voluntary program swill be sufficient to combat climate changes; Discussion of the greenhouse intensity target and what it means for future emission levels in the U.S.; Voluntary efforts, including the creation of the Energy Star label by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to assist in identifying energy-efficient products.

Part IV. Examines the efforts of the U.S. government to reduce the environmental impact of automobiles. Overview of the research efforts of automobile manufacturers about the matter; Reasons for the failure and weakness of the Section 212 of the Clean Air Act about the development of low emission vehicles; Difficulties faced by the Alternative Automotive Power Systems program of the Energy Research and Development Administration.

Discusses how five years after its optimistic beginnings the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), passed by the United States (U.S.) Congress in 1982, is in trouble. NWPA set forth major national policy for the disposal of highly toxic and long-lived waste products from U.S. nuclear facilities; Supposedly objective selection of repository sites may have been politicized and influenced by substantial bias; How nation responds to latest nuclear waste management crisis will impact on the future of nuclear power and state-federal relationships.

This article presents a comprehensive framework for analyzing problems of long-term environmental policy that address future long-range climatic changes. The policy considerations framework to be discussed consists of a sequence of discrete categories. The point of departure, Category 1, contains the options for affecting the production of carbon dioxide. The framework itself entails no necessary presumption that the less carbon dioxide the better. Category 2 is removal and Category 3 consists of policies for modifying climate and weather. Finally, Category 5 comprises all the policies and actions taken in consequence of anticipated or experienced climate change. There are two subdivisions in Category 1: energy and land use. Within those subdivisions, energy options can be broken down into three classes: reduced energy, reduced fossil fuels, and less carbon-intensive fossil fuels. Both removal and production of carbon dioxide affect the global inventory. The incentives for removal are therefore nonexistent for the individual, the firm or the small nation as long as significant cost is involved. The costs fall entirely on whoever undertakes removal; the benefits are shared indiscriminately. In the third category, the common distinction is between weather and climate. Both include the same descriptive components. Climate differs from weather in describing not a state but a pattern, including seasonal change. In Category 4, adapting to a change in climate is often thought of as an alternative to preventing it. For reasons that are often implicit prevention is usually the preferred alternative.

Discusses several issues related to environmental problems and protection. Issuance of a health standard for airborne lead by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on September 29, 1978; Examination of whether high technologies could solve the energy problem; Comparison of the environmental policies in Quebec and Ontario, Canada.

Questions how clean is clean when speaking of the clean up of Superfund sites. Congressional efforts to define clean; A new definition by the EPA which has some concerned that the cleanups may not be thorough; The two major questions about cleaning up wast sites, one of which is who is paying for it; Pressure on the EPA from industry to relax standards; Argument of industries that tough cleanup standards have been obstacles to cleanup; Lack of federal funding to help; Second strategy of industry to avoid the costs of cleanup; Details of the law.

Reports on the United States Congress's 1985 Environmental and Energy Study Conference. How the conference gives members of Congress access to unbiased sources of information and analysis of the increasingly complex environmental and energy policy questions; Consideration of bipartisan concern over environmental protection; Lack of agreement among government officials on environmental policies; Public concern over environment; Environmental and Energy policy debate.

The article reports that the most detailed world map of mammals, birds, and amphibians ever produced shows that geographic areas with high concentrations of endangered species from one taxonomic group are not necessarily at-risk regions for other groups. The landmark study was published on November 1, 2006 and is the culmination of decades of work by field biologists and analysts. The report challenges government policies that fund protected areas in the belief that protection of one species in a given area would carry over to other species. Biologist Ian Owens from Imperial College London's Division of Biology and the Natural Environment Research Council's Centre for Population Biology points out that animals are at risk for a variety of factors including poaching, habitat loss, and environmental degradation.

The article discusses how a Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies survey of 1,000 adults nationwide found that Americans are seriously concerned about the country's environmental health and want more political action on the environment. A majority of voters--84 percent--say a candidate's stance on the environment will be a factor in how they decide to vote this November. Poll results indicate that three out of five Americans rate the quality of the country's overall environment as "only fair" or "poor," while just 3 percent say the environment is "excellent." American opinion of global environmental conditions is even more striking: Three-fourths rate global conditions as "only fair" or "poor", and 63 percent say conditions are worsening. According to the poll, 67 percent of Americans say the U.S. government does not do enough to protect the environment. Fifty-six percent of Americans, especially younger voters, say that the candidates should talk more about their environmental plans.

Presents a letter to the editor regarding innovations in environmental policymaking developed by groups such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

This article features the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a panel created to consider climate-change at the policy level. The panel agreed to establish working groups that would identify and work to reduce scientific uncertainties, examine social and economic impacts, and weigh possible response strategies. The working groups will coordinate and focus national research programs and ensure the availability of needed resources. These groups will prepare interim reports on their work by late 1990--in time for consideration by the Second World Climate Conference--and present shortly thereafter a more fully considered evaluation to the United Nations General Assembly. All sources of greenhouse gas emissions must be evaluated. Cross-cutting issues that will arise and need to be addressed in each of these areas include population, land use, water resources, and the implementation of mechanisms for various response options. Much needs to be done soon to ensure an appropriate, global response to what may be our greatest environmental challenge. Much work is already under way in government laboratories, universities, and industry in the U.S. and abroad. The IPCC provides a badly needed international framework for focusing that work, identifying what else can and should be done, and encouraging governments to make resources available when, as, and where they are needed.

Discusses the need for protection of the Amazon Basin Rainforests, the home of one-half of the world's remaining tropical forests. Consideration of international programs to help preserve the forests; Focus on global environmental systems that are essential for the habitability of the planet; Link between vegetation and climate; Role of the tropics in a global climate; Importance of sustaining good standards of living for generations to come by conserving the environment; Investigation of the consequences of three extreme scenarios for the Amazon in the future.

Deals with the regulation of the non-propellant uses of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) in the United States in the 1970s. Emphasis on the use of aerosol cans; Modification of the stratosphere through the release of CFC; Factors that pose a threat to the environment.

The author reflects upon the 2006 environmental policies regarding the disposal and recycling of electronic and electrical waste in the European Union (EU). While the new rules are innovative in their requirements that essentially ban the dumping of electronics and electrical waste in landfills, the implementation and oversight have been left to the separate countries that make up the EU with no funding for the program. Meanwhile, it is hoped manufacturers embrace the new rules as an opportunity to redesign consumer goods to speed later recycling efforts.

Presents briefs related to environmental issues. Research on the shrinking ozone in the stratosphere over Antarctica by scientists at New Zealand's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research; Findings from a global survey that sewage is used to irrigate 10 percent of the world's crops; Announcement of a plan for FedEx to built a solar-power system atop its central offices in Oakland, California in order to produce one-fourth of the city's power; Others.

Discusses how the United Nation's International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted a new convention to regulate ballast water carried by merchant ships. How the treaty will rid of the spread of alien aquatic species which could be potentially harmful; Consideration of how ships discharge water at their arrival point as well as nonnative organisms such as kelp and zebra mushrooms; Efforts of countries such as Australia and Canada to bring their concerns to the attention of IMO's Maritime Environment Protection Agency (MEPC).