1. Intragenerational and intergenerationaɪ perspectives
Population, technology and resources have been called the "master variables" connected
with a complex interrelationship and resulting in an international tension between growth and
development and also between the North and the South (Choucri and North, 1993). The
North-South debate could (partially) be seen as an intragenerational one. Although
multinationals, mainly from the North, carry technology, trade and investment to the South,
they have distributive and allocational as well as global and domestic ramifications. Their
investment tends to cause environmental degradation unless checked. Poverty and population
growth are affected by environmental degradation. 2 In its turn, the North argues that
poverty and population growth cause environmental degradation. This exacerbates the world’s
economic polarization, necessitating a minimum degree of oversight at the global level
(Davidian, 1994). 3
The recent rise of "global politics of environmental issues" has involved
interdisciplinary research and reflects a genuine interest in global "sustainable development
in balance with the biosphere as a whole". This has immediate intergenerational implications
(see Brown Weiss, 1993; and Rothenberg, 1993). Past generations have bequeathed to the
present generation an endowment reflecting the fruits of the former’s efforts through trial and
error and learning by doing. Thus there is a backward indebtedness of the latter towards the
former. A social contract represented by a social security transfer mechanism is inadequate
The same interrelationship could be posed within a particular country context, thereby
generating an argument for a domestic environment tax whose revenue could be used
for social purposes. The proposition, when cast in terms of international investment,
allows the argument to be extended to a case in favour of a global environment tax.
Davidian (1994) has made similar arguments, nested in terms of the North’s "ignored
responsibility of development" and the disproportionately high energy consumption by
the North compared to the South. According to his statistics, from recent world
consumption levels of oil of about IOO million barrels per day, it is possible that
consumption will rise to 300 million barrels per day by 2000 A.D. (p.215). He
predicts that oil supply will be exhausted in the not too distant future, coal will then
be used, and the true crunch will appear when both oil and coal are exhausted, and
cites other believers. He warns, "unless concerted international action is taken in time
(and there is no time to be lost), we may expect social and political upheavals and
military conflagrations" (pp.238-39).