Lecturer sees global concerns faring well
under grass-roots organizations’ influence
By John Fulwider
Staff Reporter
The decreasing importance of
national governments bodes well
for the global environment, a lec
turer said Thursday.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews
spoke at the Lied Center for the
Performing Arts as the fifth and last
speaker in the E.N. Thompson Fo
rum on World Issues lecture series.
Mathews, a columnist for The
Washington Post, addressed the in
tersection of economics, trade and
the environment, and the political
ramifications.
Mathews said the Cold War’s
threat of nuclear annihilation
blocked out other concerns, such as
the earth’s environment.
But the present lack of global
conflict has freed the voices of
grass-roots organizations. Follow
ing the Cold War, Mathews said,
the importance and influence of non
governmental organizations —
NGOs — has steadily increased,
while that of national governments
has decreased.
“The shift is revolutionary both
in its scope and its consequences,”
she said.
Grass-roots organizations have
focused attention on global envi
ronmental issues. Mathews said the
top global environmental concerns
were ozone loss, deforestation,
greenhouse warming and loss of
biodiversity through species extinc
tion. Top regional concerns were
water pollution and shortages and
air pollution, she said.
A major factor in the shift from
governmental to non-governmen
tal influence on global issues has
Travis Heying/DN
Jessica Tuchman Mathews, a columnist for the Washington Post, talks with Chancellor
Graham Spanier before beginning her E.N. Thompson Lecture Thursday at the Lied Center
for Performing Arts. Mathews’ lecture, titled “Trade, Development, and the Environment,”
was the last E.N. Thompson lecture of the season.
been the telecommunications and
media revolution, she said.
NGO’s were strengthened at the
1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, she said. The use of
electronic-mail bulletins on the
summit’s progress, she said, al
lowed many people to influence
their government’s actions at the
summit.
With the government losing its
ability to analyze and control com
munications, she said, new voices
are finding outlets and achieving
their goals.
“The media are potent destroy
ers ofgovernment control,” she said.
Mathews said the top global pri
ority now was agreeing on whether
trade measures could be used to
protect the global environment.
Contrary to some opinions, she
said, international trade agreements,
which include environmental regu
lation, do not stifle economic de
velopment. She said economic gains
from trade liberalization balanced
out losses from environmental pro
tection laws.
She said some environmental
ists who believed the only way to
protect the environment was to re
strict economic growth were wrong.
Mathews said a new world order
was emerging.
“Albeit a disorderly one,” she
said.
senators
overhaul
I
legal aid
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
With 14 days left in the Nebraska
legislative session, senators have yet
to debate the crime bill, welfare re
form and the budget bill on the floor.
Instead, lawmakers spent nearly 3
1/2 hours Thursday amending and
debating a bill that would provide
state funds for a legal defense team for
indigent criminals, but fell short of
taking substantive action.
Debate on LB646, sponsored by
Sen. Doug Kristensen of Minden,
passed two amendments overhauling
the bill, but a large amount of debate
provided senators with a vehicle for
several broader arguments.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha
said he was going to use the bill as a
vehicle to repeal the death penalty.
Kristensen charged Sen. John Lind
say of Omaha with fanning rural/ur
ban flames. Sen. Chris Beutler of Lin
coln said he was losing faith in bills
aiding rural counties without reform
ing inefficient county governments.
Throughout the afternoon, how
ever, Kristensen kept bringing sena
tors back to the original intent of the
bill — providing a state-funded legal
defense team for indigent criminals.
After an amendment sponsored by
Kristensen passed 28-0, the bill allo
cated general fund money for a 3 - to 4
person defense staff for indigent crimi
nals without requiring counties to con
tribute to the fund.
Sen. Floyd Vrtiska of Table Rock
said there was a need for the legal
defense provision. Richardson county,
which is in Vrtiska’s district, found
itself in financial trouble recently when
it incurred more than $200,000 in le
gal defense costs for a high-profile
murder case.
“It’s a crisis issue as far as I’m
concerned,” he said.
Yours and yours alone.
MAC,
The awesome computer with all the bells and whistles.
ASAR
We mean like yesterday.
i jr
Macintosh Performs® 6115 w/CD
8MB RAM/350MB bard drive, CD-ROM
drive, 15” color display, keyboard, mouse
and all the software you’re likely to need.
i fV'r
LaserWriter Select 360
Tbner cartridge included.
Macintosh Performs* 636 w/CD
8MB RAM/250MB bard drive, CD-ROM drive,
14" color display, keyboard, mouse and all tbe
software you're likely to need
Color StyleWriter 2400
Ink cartridge and cable included.
Being a student is hard. So we've made buying a Macintosh easy. So easy, in fact, that prices
on Macintosh personal computers are now even lower than their already low student prices. And
with the Apple* Computer Loan and 90-Day Deferred Payment Plan, you can take home a MacTwith
out having to make a single payment for up to 90 days. Which means you can also i i
take home the power to make any student!; life easier The power to be your best* xu)D16Vk
The CRC Computer Shop*
501 Building - 501N. 10th Street, University of Nebraska, 472-5787,
Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m, Tuesday until 6 p.m.
•Students, faculty and staff status must meet CRC Computer Shop educational purchase qualifications. University ID required to order and purchase.
^*F*aa,^termUb $February 1995 bad an Merest rate cfnS7\ with an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 1332% Tbe monthly payment and Ik APR shown atatmts <XMtv Afeiirf of
^SsS3£&^SSS£SS^^32SSSs3SSSS£SS^
