Interview with accountant and Army veteran Frederick R. Freeman. The interview includes Freeman's personal experiences about the European Theater during the World War II, basic training, advanced infantry training, initial combat on the front lines in France, survival techniques under combat conditions, the Ardennes Offensive, and the Battle of the Bulge. Freeman also talks about the effects of combat losses and acclimation of individual replacements, his bout with combat exhaustion and reassignment to a replacement depot as a clerk, his participation in the Army of Occupation, and postwar adjustments to civilian life.

The European Union (EU), comprised of 15 member states (countries), is one of the United States’ chief agricultural trading partners and also a major competitor in world markets. Both heavily support their agricultural sectors, with a large share of such support concentrated on wheat, feed grains, cotton, oilseeds, sugar, dairy, and tobacco. However, the EU provides more extensive support to a broader range of farm and food products. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the EU and United States in 2001 together accounted for nearly two-thirds of all government support to agriculture among the major developed economies. However, EU agricultural spending generally is much higher than in the United States. Information comparing how the U.S. and EU governments support their producers is expected to be of interest to policymakers while negotiations are underway among world trading partners to further reform agricultural trade.

The European Union’s (EU’s) Emissions Trading System (ETS) is a cornerstone of the EU’s efforts to meet its obligation under the Kyoto Protocol. It covers more than 11,500 energy intensive facilities across the 25 EU member countries, including oil refineries, power plants over 20 megawatts (MW) in capacity, coke ovens, and iron and steel plants, along with cement, glass, lime, brick, ceramics, and pulp and paper installations. Covered entities emit about 45% of the EU’s carbon dioxide emissions. The trading program does not cover emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases, which account for about 20% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions. A final consideration for the ETS is its suitability for directing long-term investment toward a low-carbon future — the ultimate goal of any climate change program.

Interview with Andrew Brosh, Sr., a veteran of the U.S. Army from Karnes County, Texas who served in World War II. Brosh describes his time in basic training and experiences serving in Europe, as well as seeing American prisoners of war.