Recent calls for a UN Convention on Soils begs the question about its feasibility and advisability. International conventions are most likely to be successful where the need for action is compelling, the effects of inaction immediate, dramatic and relatively certain, and there are significant...

The assumptions which must be made to accept ratios of energy output to energy input as an efficiency measure with normative significance are examined and found to be unrealistic. It is considered better for governments to modify market prices where divergences exist between private and social...