美国在环境议题上的分歧及对中国的启示

美国曾经在环境保护和治理污染上做出了卓越的成绩,但是如今环境议题成为撕裂美国的重要议题。美国的共和党和民主党在环境议题上互相牵制,难以达成共识。最近,美国特朗普总统宣布退出应对气候变化的《巴黎协定》就是这种分歧的表现。但当美国1970年代开始环境立法治理污染的时候,美国社会上下和两大党之间高度一致。在此后,因为环境思想上的差异和代际转变,政党斗争、选举体制、利益集团等多方面原因,美国不同政治势力在环境议题上越发分裂。美国在环境议题上的分歧对中国如今解决环境问题有重要的启示意义:首先,现在我国社会上下一致应对环境问题的广泛共识很宝贵,应该抓住难得的机遇期,为未来环境治理积极立法,留下宝贵法治遗产。另一方面,随着人们在环境议题上的利益变得多元,中国应该在环境治理上整合各方面利益,防止中国未来的环保事业被利益集团绑架。最后,中国应该明确环境议题的概念远远大于治理污染,为未来环境事业扩展空间。

Environmental Dispute in the United States and Implication to China

The United States has made significant achievements on environmental protection and pollution control. However, environment issue has become one of the most divisive issue. The Republican Party and Democratic Party attack each other, making it difficult to reach consensus on environmental issues. Recently, Trump administration declared withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, exemplifying this deep division on environmental issues. As a contrast, when the United States first began to enact modern environmental laws to control pollution in the 1970''s, there was bipartisan support on environmental issues. Since then, there was a noticeable disagreement on environmental issues between different political groups, due to the difference in environmental thoughts, transgenerational changes on environmental values, partisan conflict, election system, interest group, and other reasons. The fact that the United States is divisive on environmental issues has some implications to China. Frist, it is a precious opportunity that Chinese society has reached a wide consensus on environmental issues. China should take this opportunity and actively push for environmental legislation, for now and for future generations as well. In addition, as interests diversified on environmental issues, China should balance interests from different groups and avoid interference from interest groups in the future. Last but not least, China should clarify that environmental protection is more than just pollution control, which can leave more room for future environmental protection.