FREE-TRADE IS GREEN, PROTECTIONISM IS NOT

Many writers argue that free trade will lead to environmental degradat ion. Most environmentally pernicious Public policies, however, such as subsidies of timber extraction and ranching, are also trade protectio nist policies. To the extent that free trade treaties, such as the Gen eral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, do away with such trade protectio nism, free trade instead could be viewed as a major pathway to environ mental reform Furthermore, trade liberalization is associated with urb anization and industrialization, both of which reduce population growt h rates and the pressures of colonization. I suggest that we, as envir onmentalists, can ally ourselves with free traders.