[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[June 1, 1992]
[Pages 873-876]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



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Remarks to Goddard Space Flight Center Employees in Greenbelt, Maryland

June 1, 1992
    Thank you very, very much. Thank you for this welcome to Goddard. 
And Dan Goldin, thank you, sir, for the introduction, the leadership 
you're giving the Agency. With me is Bill Reilly. We've been talking 
today about the upcoming summit in Brazil, the environmental meeting 
down there. And this visit is very timely for both of us, I think, 
seeing what magnificent contribution Goddard makes to a better 
understanding of our planet. I want to salute Mike Deland, who was with 
us up at Camp David a little bit ago. He runs our Council on 
Environmental Quality. He's at my side in the White House, a sound 
environmentalist. Dr. Klineberg, I listened, I had the applause meter on 
when you walked in, and either they're scared of you or you're doing 
something right. [Laughter] I don't know which it is, but it was most 
impressive. And thanks for your hospitality. May I salute Brian Dailey, 
out here, of the Space Council. And I'd like to thank Dr. Fisk, who 
helped us in the tour.
    Now, you know that it's been a month, and in just over a month on 
the job, Dan Goldin supervised the recovery of a satellite on Endeavor's 
maiden voyage; he won a vote, a very important vote, to save the space 
station on the floor of the House; and he launched his own cultural 
revolution at NASA. And I'd say the new NASA is off to a flying start. 
And I am very grateful to him for taking on this terribly important 
assignment heading up NASA.
    Twenty years ago this month, 20 years ago, the leaders of the world 
gathered in Sweden to talk about the human environment. The Stockholm 
Declaration that they adopted had a simple conclusion, that through 
fuller knowledge and wiser action we can achieve for ourselves and our 
posterity a better life in an environment more in keeping with human 
needs and hopes. Much has been accomplished since those early days of 
environmentalism, and much has been learned.
    We've learned that only market-oriented economies and democratic 
systems provide the accountability needed to protect against 
environmental degradation. The coating of soot that the world found when 
the curtain of secrecy was pulled back from Eastern Europe was but one 
visible demonstration of that.
    We've learned that the economy can grow even while pollution is 
reduced. Since 1973, our GDP has grown by more than 50 percent. And yet 
air quality has gotten better: Emissions of carbon monoxide and smog-
forming ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter are all down by 
more than 20 percent. And water quality has gotten better: We've 
achieved an 80 percent reduction in suspended solids from industrial and 
sewage treatment plants.
    We've learned that technology, spurred by the right incentives, can 
provide help to the environment that no amount of regulation of old 
technology could have achieved. Technological progress can cut pollution 
rather than increase it. And at the same time, the efficiency gained is 
good for profits.
    And we've learned that market-based mechanisms and flexibility, 
aimed at ambitious objectives and backed up by rigorous enforcement, can 
help us solve environmental problems at less cost than command-and-
control regulation.
    We've learned about a new generation of environmental problems that 
are global in scope and that will require international cooperation to 
solve. This week, and I referred to this earlier, over 100 heads of 
state will gather in Rio de Janeiro, and it will be time to apply those 
lessons. And what better place to discuss our plans for taking on the 
problems of the international environment than here at Goddard.
    I thought as I was on this little tour, which was all too quick but 
nevertheless gave me a little feel about the magnificent work that the 
wonderful employees of Goddard do, I thought wouldn't it be a wonderful 
thing if these 100 or more heads of state

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could actually walk through the laboratories here and get a practical 
feeling for what it is you are doing, to see how they can better monitor 
the changes that they talk about or that they get from their 
environmental ministers. It's a wonderful thing. And I think it's very 
timely that I've had this opportunity, and I look forward to sharing it 
with those people down in Rio.
    It is science developed here that has given the world a new window 
from which to see its environment. A spacecraft managed by Goddard 
provided humanity with its first image of Earth from space. It was your 
scientists, Goddard's scientists, who developed the upper atmosphere 
research satellite launched last year, which is providing us new insight 
about the content of the ozone layer. And the lion's share of the 
science that the world is using to understand our climate comes from a 
program with its heart and soul right here, the Global Change Research 
Program, built around the Mission to Planet Earth that Goddard is 
developing.
    When we go to Rio, the U.S. will go proudly as the world's leader, 
not just in environmental research but in environmental action. The 
United States was the first nation to recognize the danger of CFC 
emissions by eliminating aerosol propellants, which we did in 1978. 
Other nations are now following suit using the aerosol phaseout as 
credit to meet the terms of the Montreal Protocol. We are 42 percent 
ahead of the schedule required by that agreement. And earlier this year, 
on the basis of science developed by NASA, we unilaterally decided to 
speed up our timetable for phasing out CFC's to the end of 1995. We were 
the first nation, back in 1975, to adopt catalytic converters to reduce 
those emissions from our cars and trucks. In 1982, we began phasing out 
lead from American gasoline, and now ambient levels of lead in our air 
have been cut by 95 percent. Other nations are only now taking these two 
steps.
    I came to this office committed to extend America's record of 
environmental leadership. And I've worked to do so in a way that is 
compatible with economic growth because this balance is absolutely 
essential and because these are twin goals, not mutually exclusive 
objectives. You see, those who met 20 years ago at Stockholm and called 
for this UNCED, this summit, explicitly called for the discussion at Rio 
to be about both environment and development. And they knew even back 
then that the two were inextricably linked. Only a growing economy can 
generate the resources and the will to manage natural assets for the 
longer term and the common good. But only assets which are so managed 
can support the growth on which so much human hope is hinged. By 
definition, for development to be successful in the long term, it has 
got to be sustainable. And so, I invite comparison of the record that we 
as a country and as an administration have built. It is aggressive. It 
is comprehensive. And it is ambitious, but carefully balanced. What 
we've done in this administration reflects the new environmentalism, 
more sophisticated in its approach, that harnesses the power of the 
marketplace in the service of the environment. Let me give you some 
examples.
    The 1990 Clean Air Act, which I proposed and signed into law, is the 
most ambitious air pollution legislation anywhere on Earth. It will cut 
acid rain, smog, toxic chemical emissions. And yet it will do so with 
innovations the whole world is watching. We have a trading system for 
sulfur dioxide reductions, have a new generation of cleaner fuels and 
cleaner cars, a massive--and to date successful--voluntary air toxics 
reduction program.
    Our national parks are under stress from millions of visitors. And 
so, just in the last 4 years, we've added over a million and half acres 
to America's parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and to other public land. 
We've created 57 new wildlife refuges and restored or protected more 
than a half a million acres a year of important wetlands. And at the 
same time, we've streamlined the permitting process so that projects 
which don't hurt wetlands aren't slowed down. And we've made sure to 
respect people's private property rights.
    We've placed a moratorium on oil and gas drilling along the most 
environmentally sensitive areas of our coasts, signed new laws to 
protect against oilspills, to end

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below-cost timber sales in America's largest rain forest, the Tongass, 
and to promote environmental education. We've backed our laws up with 
strict enforcement to make the polluters pay. And the results have been 
record contributions to cleanups from businesses.
    And we have attended to the international environment with new 
agreements to stop the irresponsible export of toxic wastes, to ban 
trade in ivory and thereby stop the extinction of elephants due to 
poaching, and to use debt forgiveness to protect the environment through 
the debt-for-nature swaps.
    In short, our country, America, retains its place at the forefront 
of international environmental accomplishment. Our laws have served as a 
model for environmental laws the world over. America's environmental 
accomplishments have not come by mistake; they are the result of 
sustained investment. Today, the United States spends about 2 percent of 
its gross domestic product, over $100 billion a year, on pollution 
control. In comparison to other nations, that's among the very, very 
highest in the world.
    Americans have always believed that actions speak louder than words. 
And simple wisdom has guided our approach to the questions on the table 
at Rio. We will sign a good agreement on climate change. It is based on 
the idea that every nation should prepare an action strategy as we in 
the United States have done. We first laid our plan on the table in 
February 1991 with specific policy proposals and specific calculations 
concerning how much greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced. When the 
science on CFC's changed, we added new measures, and we again laid our 
plan on the table. We showed that our policies would reduce projected 
year 2000 greenhouse gas emissions by 125 million to 200 million tons, 
or by 7 to 11 percent. No other nation except The Netherlands has laid 
out such a specific plan of action. And that's why we insisted that the 
focus be on results, not on rhetoric. It may not have been widely 
reported in the press, but in area after area, the United States laid 
down specific proposals and worked for their adoption: Forests, oceans, 
living marine resources, public participation, financing. Let me be 
clear: Our commitment to action did not begin and will not end with Rio.
    So, when I travel down there next week, to Brazil, I will bring with 
me several proposals to extend the commitment of the world community 
into the future. Let me outline for you my four-point plan of 
cooperation:
    First, I will propose a major new initiative to protect and enhance 
the world's forests. I mentioned lessons learned about cost 
effectiveness. Well, halting the loss of the Earth's forests is one of 
the most cost-effective steps that we can take to cut carbon dioxide 
emissions. Forests also filter the air and water. They provide products 
from timber and fuelwood to pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs. They are 
home to more than half the world's species. At the Houston G-7 summit 2 
years ago, I proposed a global forest convention. At UNCED, we should 
get agreement on the principles leading up to that. But I propose today 
to move ahead faster. At Rio, I will ask the other industrialized 
countries to join me in doubling worldwide forest assistance with a goal 
of halting the loss of the world's forests by the end of the decade. As 
a down payment, the U.S. will increase its bilateral forest assistance 
by $150 million next year. The plan is to encourage partnerships between 
recipient countries who could propose new projects and investor 
countries who, in effect, could bid to support the most effective 
proposals for sequestering CO2 or preserving biodiversity.
    Second, with respect to climate, the signing of a convention that 
calls for action plans is simply a first step. We must implement them. 
So I will join in proposing a prompt start to adoption of climate action 
plans. Of course, as new and better science becomes available on climate 
change, we will adjust that action plan accordingly. The solution to 
climate change must include the developing countries. While today they 
account for about a quarter of the world's emissions, by the year 2025 
they will contribute over half. So we must have their participation, and 
we will fund country studies to get them started. These countries will 
need new technologies if they are to

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enjoy green growth. And America can provide them. So, my budget includes 
an investment of almost $1 billion in developing new energy-efficient 
technologies. Hundreds of American businessmen will be traveling to Rio 
to make the case for our technology. But this effort must continue.
    So then the third part of our plan is to support a program, a board 
program of technology cooperation. In particular, we're going to create 
a Technology Cooperation Corps to identify the green technology, those 
green technological needs of countries around the world, and then to 
knock down the barriers to making it available.
    The fourth point of my program for a cleaner future is a continued 
program of research and understanding. This year we are requesting over 
$1.4 billion for the Global Change Research Program. That's more than 
the amount spent on climate research by the rest of the world put 
together. With Dan Goldin's leadership here at NASA, we will push for a 
program that provides results faster, cheaper, and better. At Rio, I 
will propose to make the data from our climate change program available 
and affordable for scientists and researchers all around the world. As 
part of this effort, we will distribute at that Conference, at UNCED, 
thousands of copies of computer disks with data on greenhouse effects, 
and we will open this year a Global Change Research Information Office.
    These four steps--a dramatic program to protect and to enhance 
forests; quick action on climate change; cooperation in deploying 
cleaner, more efficient technology; and then an ongoing program to 
develop and share sound science--can help us seize that opportunity long 
after those speeches in Rio have been given and the Conference is over.
    Two decades ago, when they gathered at Stockholm, the leaders of the 
world could not possibly have foreseen the tumultuous events of the 
intervening two decades. Then they worried about nuclear war as a chief 
environmental threat. They couldn't have known that today the specter of 
nuclear war, with its unthinkable destruction, would be calmed as never 
before in our postwar history. They could not possibly have envisioned 
that, with the fall of statism and communism, those who would come to 
Rio would have the chance to launch a new generation of clean growth 
guided by the wisdom of free peoples and fueled by the power of free 
markets. They could never have known how far we've have come in 20 
years. Now it is for us to imagine how much further we can go. And what 
better place to make that point than standing before these people that 
are dedicated to demonstrating to the rest of the world how much farther 
we can go.
    I am grateful to each and every one of you who gives of himself or 
herself to further the science and thus to improve and keep something 
very, very special, the environmental quality of our entire world. Thank 
you for what you do. And may God bless our great country. Thank you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 2:44 p.m. in the 
                        auditorium in Building 8. In his remarks, he 
                        referred to John M. Klineberg, Director, Goddard 
                        Space Flight Center; Brian D. Dailey, Executive 
                        Secretary-Designate, National Space Council; and 
                        Lennard A. Fisk, Associate Administrator for 
                        Space Science and Applications, NASA.