Report Gives Nafta Mixed Reviews

In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, established an agency to monitor the environmental effects of trade between the U-S, Canada, and Mexico. In a new report, the agency gives NAFTA mixed reviews. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein explains:

Transcript

In 1994 the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, established an agency to
monitor the environmental effects of trade between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. In a
new report, the agency gives NAFTA mixed reviews. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s David Sommerstein explains:


The Commission for Environmental Cooperation found little evidence overall of what
environmentalists’ most feared from NAFTA – more pollution and lower environmental
standards. The study finds trade-related advances in technology have, in some cases,
helped the environment. But it attributes to NAFTA more air pollution from trucks at
border crossings. And businesses seeking out lax regulations can create pollution
hotspots. The report points to a 400% rise in hazardous waste shipments to Canada as an
example.


Chantal Line Carpentier is a spokesperson for the CEC. She says all three countries need
strong laws to make NAFTA environment-friendly.


“It’s not only an agreement on trade and goods, it’s also on investment, so that you need
to have the policy in place and also the flexibility to put policy in place as soon as there’s
some sort of hotspot that develops.”


Still, environmental groups remain concerned that competition for investment will trump
environmental policy when it comes free trade.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.

Protesters Are Everyday People

It would appear that political protest is becoming a major part of international trade negotiations. In less than two years, thousands of protesters have been mobilized for trade talks in Quebec City, Seattle and Washington D.C. While much attention has been focused on the relatively small number of protesters who would be considered to be extreme in their views, Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston says that the majority of the activists are ordinary people doing extraordinary things:

Transcript

It would appear that political protest is becoming a major part of international trade negotiations. In less than two years, thousands of protesters have been mobilized for trade talks in Quebec City, Seattle and Washington D.C. While much attention has been focused on the relatively small number of protesters who would be considered to be extreme in their views, Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston says that the majority of the activists are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.


A couple of years ago I was shocked to discover that I had a file with the Canadian Intelligence agency. At first I thought it was funny. I mean I’m such a threat to national security. I think I’ve had one speeding ticket in 20 years, I’ve never been arrested and the most radical thing I thought I’d ever done was get a second hole pierced in one ear.


Apparently, my government thought differently. I’d been working with a local group trying to make public safety an issue at a nearby nuclear power plant. Our group consisted of a retired nurse, a couple of housewives, an autoworker, a schoolteacher and a biologist. Hardly the makings of a subversive group of terrorists, but we were being watched, nonetheless.


The problem wasn’t what we were doing; it was what we were asking the government to do. Our nuclear industry was still shrouded in the secrecy that had given birth to the nuclear weapons program a half a century earlier. We were dangerous because we wanted to change that.
We wanted them to create a transparent process around nuclear health and safety issues. Among other things, we wanted them to let the public know when there was a spill at the plant or when workers weren’t doing their jobs properly.


What’s ironic about all this is today the very ideas that had us labeled as radicals worth watching are now a regular part of public policy. We didn’t change our ideas, everybody else just caught up.


And now a whole new generation of activists is being watched because they want an open and honest process around free-trade issues. Like us, the majority of them are law- abiding, tax-paying citizens who simply want their voices heard. They want to make sure in the move toward globalization things like environmental protection and human rights aren’t ignored. They’re protesting out of frustration because they’re being shut out of the process.


Look at the people that I know who went to Quebec City. One colleague is a university professor and yet another is a respected author who works on cancer prevention. But perhaps the best example is my friend Denise. She’s the mother of four boys and has been teaching at a religious high school for 20 years. In her spare time she sings in her church choir and leads a youth group. Denise was tear-gassed as she sat in a prayer circle with a bunch of other women for no apparent reason. Talk to anyone who was in Seattle or Quebec or Washington and you’ll hear similar stories.


These are not radical terrorists who are threatening to dismantle society as we know it, but that’s exactly how they’re treated whenever they gather to try and influence the process – and with good reason. They pose a much more serious threat to the status quo than any bomb wielding terrorist. And that’s because they are right and righteousness is a terrifying thing.


Social activists are frequently persecuted by the very system that they seek to improve. Look at the civil rights movement. People were harassed, beaten, jailed and even killed. Why? Because they upheld an ideal of social justice that transcended the status quo.


This same process has happened over and over again throughout history. The anti-war protests during the 60s, Tianammen Square a decade ago. Every time people had a vision that frightened the powers of the day.


And so now this latest generation of social revolutionaries is trying to slow the push toward globalization. They’re concerned that the environment, local cultures and developing nations will suffer. But rather than being applauded for their courage and vision, they are being stalked by government agencies like common criminals. Sound familiar?


The good news is that in time, like so many times before, their ideas will gain momentum until they reach a critical mass. Eventually the powers that be will get it, and the system will change, and we will wonder (or even forget) what all the fuss was about.

God Bless Michigan

Throughout North America, municipalities are struggling to find ways to
dispose of their trash. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium
commentator Suzanne Elston has discovered, there is one state that’s
actually welcoming its neighbors’ garbage:

Seed Industry Growing in Foreign Markets

The global marketplace is growing, with many industries enjoying theadvantages of free trade agreements that give them easier access toforeign consumers. But seed businesses still face tight regulationswhen it comes to crossing borders, and some in the industry say therestrictions should be loosened up. But if that happens, there may bean environmental price to pay. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s WendyNelson reports: