World Watch articles from March 1997

World Watch archives from March 1997

An open letter to Kofi Annan. (United Nations Sec.-Gen.)(Editorial)
March 1, 1997... Congratulations on assuming leadership of the United Nations. Those of us who were appalled by the one-nation crusade perpetrated by the government of the United States against your predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, are glad that such a...

Habitat loss.
March 1, 1997... In the last issue, I wrote a note reflecting on the global destruction of forest, and I chose to approach that staggering topic from a very personal perspective - by starting from a view of the woods I can see from my own home on a river near...

Riding the dragon. (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation)
March 1, 1997... Around the Pacific Rim, a new kind of power is emerging. APEC, the region's biggest trade network, can now influence more than half the world's economic production. The question is - will APEC make that production sustainable? "APEC Means...

The electric car arrives - again.
March 1, 1997... The first mass-produced electric cars in modern times are here. They are expensive, limited in capability, and unfamiliar to most consumers. But so were the early Model Ts and personal computers. It was two bicycle mechanics from Massachusetts,...

Nowhere to hide: the global spread of high-risk synthetic chemicals.
March 1, 1997... The mounting risks of exposure to synthetic chemicals - through accidental contact, bioaccumulation, and unpredictable synergies - suggest that the tens of thousands of compounds now at large in the environment can no longer be considered...

Five years after Rio: too little, too slow. (1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil)
March 1, 1997... When representatives of 178 nations and thousands of non-governmental organizations convened in Rio de Janeiro for the UN Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992, their goal was to determine how to respond swiftly and effectively...