Americas Quarterly

the

environment

rowing evidence of the
impact of climate change, rang-
ing from glacial melt to extreme
weather, along with expectations
of a new era in U.S. domestic and
global environmental policy, and
the potential for a “green” economy
to spark a new era of growth, all
have us marching to the UN confer-
ence on climate change in Copen-
hagen this December with both
high hopes and fears of failure.
Nowhere are these drawn more
sharply than in the Americas.
Many observers are—rightly or
wrongly—pinning progress in Co-
penhagen on the United States.
But the hemisphere’s concerns
(and hopes) go well beyond car-
bon caps and what the U.S. does or
doesn’t do. The health and lives of
millions of Latin Americans have
already suffered the effects of a
degraded environment. But many
G

36 Americas Quarterly FALL 2009

of the technologies and materials needed to unlock more renewable policies lie within our region.

Examples of these are easy to find: Brazil’s successful ethanol programs and green urban transport systems in cities like Curitiba (Brazil), Bogotá and Mexico City. There is also the region’s vast hydropower potential, and the growing consensus around sustainable business practices among the hemisphere’s private sector. Many, in fact, see our region not only as a source of new green industry and technology, but as a model and engine for an environmentally-ori-ented world economy.

The failure to act, however, will only worsen the effects already felt by many in the hemisphere. Whether it’s the declining water flows from shrinking glacier caps, the pollution (and attendant

health effects) of overgrown and overburdened cities, the threats of climate change for natural disasters and to food security, or the risk of rising water levels to island nations in the Caribbean, the Americas are on the front lines of the battle to protect our environment. In these cases, many citizens don’t need more evidence of the worsening environment. They live it.

Both the risks and the hopes are featured in this issue of Americas Quarterly. We have dedicated it to the broad sweep of contemporary challenges that affect our relationship with the environment. The breadth of those challenges goes beyond what until now has been the overwhelming environmental issue in the Americas: the threat to the Amazon.