Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Fri, May 29 1992 Date: Fri, 29 May 92 05:20:41 EDT Message-ID: 05-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update May 29-31, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Friday morning in USA TODAY: Earth; Yugoslavia; Neuharth. TODAY'S DEBATE - ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP: USA TODAY'S OPINION: Depletion. Pollution. Famine. Extinction. Those grim topics will dominate discussion at next week's Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero. ... Depressing as the subjects are, they offer an opportunity the U.S. has been waiting for: a chance to redefine itself as a post-Cold War leader. ... Whoever leads nations out of the poverty that invites exploitation of resources will gain new markets as prosperity grows. Whoever leads in creating environment-friendly technology will reap profits from the world's growing hunger for equipment to cut pollution and save resources. All that plus easing the globe's human and ecological devastation: ... Without attention, forests now disappearing at the rate of one acre every second, no longer will refuel nature's mechanism for cleansing the air. ... President Bush has failed to latch on to the Rio opportunity, despite the world's needs and the potential benefits. ... While the U.S. hangs back, Japan is taking the environmental lead. Officials there are already discussing ways to raise funds to put the Earth Summit's recommendations into effect. The U.S. should move into the lead at the Earth Summit, or be left in the dust. OTHER VIEW: JERRY TAYLOR, director of natural resource studies at the Cato Institute, Washington: Though well-intentioned, international agreements to protect the environment are ineffectual, misguided and very costly for future generations. The most pervasive environmental problems are local and regional, not global. Water pollution, waste disposal, groundwater contamination, urban smog and deforestation are manifestations of unique state policies and local geographic, demographic and industrial profiles. They can be effectively addressed only locally. International agreements tend to ignore those less "mediagenic" problems and pursue sexier issues such as climate change and ozone depletion. ... The world is infatuated with command and control policies that empower armies of bureaucrats no more capable of managing ecological health than they are of managing economic growth. ... Natural resources are better protected by individual owners with vested interests in their property. ... Treaties that harm growth not only condemn the poor to continuing poverty but doom long-term progress in environmental protection. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON INVOLVEMENT IN YUGOSLAVIA: GLENDALE, Calif., Irene Edwards Blore, 65, dress designer: I think we set the example for high goals worldwide. If there is any place that is in darkness and our candle can glow to make it a better world, we should. That is what I wish the USA could be, the symbol of peace. How we can do it is the unsolved problem. CHICAGO, Ill., Jonathan Goldman, 25, bartender: I think we should get involved diplomatically by backing the United Nations, but we should not intervene as we did in the gulf. We should not send our troops. We should use the full brunt of diplomatic pressure and economic pressure to get Serbia to stop being so aggressive. HOUSTON, Texas, Shirley Moore, 44, assistant English professor: We have enough problems here at home and we need to solve them before we attempt to solve other people's problems. We have severe domestic problems in terms of racial tensions, homelessness, health care and unemployment. We need to take care of those first. WHEELING, W.Va., John H. Keppel, 70, retired clergyman: Absolutely not. The temptation is that we become a world policeman and I'm not in favor of that. I just don't feel that the military should be involved in Yugoslavia. There is no national security threat to the United States. TOPIC - NEUHARTH: AL NEUHARTH, founder of USA TODAY: Theerre went Johnny last week. And now there go his loyal fans. One week may not a season make or break. But it's enough to show why Jay Leno has lost or will lose many or most of Johnny Carson's faithful. ... Not only are Johnny and his golf swing gone. So is every reminder of his terrific 30 years at NBC's "Tonight Show." The set's colorful curtain. Couch. Desk. Ed McMahon's straight-man stance. Doc Severinsen's big band. Paul Anka's theme song. Leno has made the same mistake so many successors do when they take over from a retiring star. Eager to make their own mark, they eliminate the legacy. ... George Bush was so eager to burst out of Ronald Reagan's shadow he didn't even ask his predecessor's advice on a vice presidential running mate. ... Joe Robbie's body was barely cold before his successor son Tim sold 50% of Robbie Stadium and 15% of the football franchise his father fostered. The Miami Dolphins have been going downhill ever since. ... Of course the Bushs and Robbies and Lenos should put their own imprint on their programs or projects. But when they try to wipe out footprints of their forerunners, they lose more than they gain. Issues & Debate Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 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