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41. Russian Health and Social Welfare: Limited Progress

Author:
Judyth L. Twigg
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
It has become routine for Russian policy makers to characterize their various health and social problems—rising male mortality, HIV/AIDS, illegal drug use, even pension system reform—as threats to the stability and national security of their country. Russia's importance to American national interests was thrown in sharp relief by the events of September 11 and their aftermath. A stable, prosperous Russia is a crucial partner in the war on terrorism. The fact that so many of Russia's health and social indicators remain stagnant or in decline, despite limited improvement along some dimensions, should therefore be troubling to the United States.
Topic:
Government, Health, Human Welfare, Science and Technology, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia

42. America and the Global Energy Challenge

Author:
Hal Harvey
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Energy is at once the lifeblood and the bane of the modern world. Fossil energy has fueled tremendous economic growth over the past 150 years. The economic history of the United States is largely the history of extracting and using coal and oil. At the same time, the profligate use of these energy sources has created the world's most pressing environmental problems, and led to major national security concerns for the United States. Energy consumption is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions, smog, acid rain, oil spills, and nuclear waste. American dependence on oil from the Middle East forces our hand on foreign policy and imposes high economic and human costs. It is becoming increasingly clear that America's—and the world's—current diet of fossil energy is not sustainable.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Science and Technology, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Middle East

43. Sustainable Growth: Do We Have a Choice?

Author:
Paul V. Tebo
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Growth has always been a driving and motivating force for people, for business and for nations. The old adage, “you are either growing or shrinking, there is no middle ground,” seems to hold up well over time. And, historically, when economic growth and environmental protection come head-to-head, economic growth usually wins. But, does this really have to be the case?
Topic:
Development, Environment, Science and Technology, and Treaties and Agreements

44. Population and the Environment

Author:
Joel Cohen
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Humans have influenced environmental changes in the past, and vice versa. The two-way interaction between people and their environments will continue in the future. In the coming half-century, the human population will probably be larger, more slowly growing, more urban, and older than in the twentieth century. No one knows whether humans will be more internationally mobile. These changes, with uncertain environmental consequences, result from human choices, individual and collective, and are therefore subject to influence by programs and policies.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, Human Welfare, Science and Technology, and OPEC

45. Free Trade and Environmental Protection

Author:
Daniel C. Esty
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
From the protests in the streets of Seattle during the World Trade Organization's 1999 Ministerial Meeting to the chaos surrounding the 2001 G-8 Summit Meeting in Genoa, the backlash against globalization is increasingly evident. One dimension of this backlash centers on environmental concerns. While economic integration and trade liberalization offer the promise of growth and prosperity, environmental advocates fear that freer trade will lead to increased pollution and resource depletion. At the same time, free traders worry that over- reaching environmental policies will obstruct efforts to open markets and integrate economies around the world. They often see environmentalists as blindly anti-free-trade and protectionist. “Trade and environment” tensions have therefore emerged as a major issue in the debate over globalization. This paper explores the contours of these tensions and argues that trade policy and environmental programs can be better integrated and made more mutually supportive.
Topic:
Development, Environment, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology

46. The State of the Natural World

Author:
Kathryn S. Fuller
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The sad truth is that the natural world is everywhere disappearing before our eyes. More than 6 billion people fill the world, with a predicted 9 billion in the decades ahead. We are simply too many—the large numbers of poor struggling to raise the quality of their lives in any way they can and the fewer affluent who nonetheless consume so much of nature's bounty.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Government, and Science and Technology

47. Plant Biotechnology and the Environment

Author:
Gordon Conway
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Many people who worry about the environmental effects of plant biotechnology fear that we are dealing with some new threat. I would argue that this is not the case. It is not plant biotechnology that is new and unknown, it is the combination of biotechnology and globalization, and the incredibly fast pace at which the two spread and interact, that should concern us.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, Government, and Science and Technology

48. American Journalism in Transition: A View at the Top

Author:
Amy Korzick Garmer
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
American journalism is in the midst of a transition unlike any other it has experienced in the 225-year history of the republic. Like other societal institutions, news organizations must contend with a variety of forces that are upsetting the status quo and shaping new business and cultural environments. These forces include advances in technology, demographic shifts and the changing interests of consumers, changing government regulations, market consolidation, and globalization, to name a few. The convergence of these market and cultural phenomena and the relentless advance of the information revolution have rocked the comfortably familiar culture of journalism.
Topic:
Globalization, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and America

49. Sustaining Media Pluralism in Democratizing Societies

Author:
Craig L. LaMay
Publication Date:
03-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In 1974 a global "third wave" of democratization began when a military coup in Portugal ended the dictatorship of Antonio Salazar, who himself had come to power in a military coup in 1926. Over the course of the succeeding 15 years, about 30 countries changed from various forms of nondemocratic regimes to nominally democratic ones, most dramatically in South America and Central and Eastern Europe. During this period, notable transitions from nondemocratic rule also occurred in Africa and Asia.
Topic:
Industrial Policy and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, South America, and Portugal

50. Reinventing Minority Media for the 21st Century

Author:
América Rodriguez
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
For the fourth year, the Aspen Institute gathered together policy analysts, industry leaders, and academics to discuss the present state—and the future—of U.S. media that is produced purposefully and strategically for U.S. minority communities. These media, which range from small weekly newspapers in Filipino communities in Northern California to transnational corporations such as Univision (Univisión) which serves the Hispanic community, were the centerpiece of a lively exchange at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado, July 13-15, 2000.
Topic:
Industrial Policy and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States, California, and Colorado