It must be admitted, BTW, that much of the credit for the U.S. environmental record (which is quite good) goes to the environmentalists of the mid-20th century. Without their campaigns for gov't pressure, one rather doubts that industry would have cleaned up on its own.
But it must also be noted that the only reason the cleanup happened at all is because we were/are rich enough to be able to afford it.
Of course, the really bad coastal pollution is not in the U.S., but in the 3rd world, and they don't have the wealth necessary to do anything about it.
Which implies big bucks from us to make it work.
Which implies big bucks from us to make it work.
Yes, but I've seen some suggestions of public/private partnering that may help. An example of this is in Bali, and mind you, this is only a suggestion. The problem is that some fine coral reefs are degrading rapidly due to untreated sewage entering the sea. The suggestion has been that U.S. corporations who already have resort hotels on the island would contribute to a sewage treatment plant that would a) aid the people on the island, b) improve the pollution problem affecting the reefs, and c) enhance eco-tourism for the area, which would cut down on the need for the locals to fish for exotic tropical fish and increase the usage of the resort hotels.
If their is an economic benefit in such investments for the investors, there isn't much downside.