From: prune@athena.mit.edu (Paul Berland)
Subject: Solution in Sight?
Keywords: budget solution world environment strategy
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 00:17:56 GMT

I just read an amazing article in the Fall 1991 Whole Earth Review,
pp 62-63: "What the World Wants (and how to pay for it)"  (by the World
Game Insittute) which introduces a recent proposal for solving most of 
the world's environmental problems and even provides rough price tags by 
which the world may be able to purchase its salvation.  The article says,
"This chart seeks to make the point that what the world needs to solve the
major systemic problems confronting humanity is both available and affordable.
Clearly, to portray a problem as complex and large as, for example, the global
food situation, with just a small part of a single graph is incomplete, at
best.  The following explanations are not intended as complete or detailed
plans, but rather as very broad brush-strokes intended to give the overall 
direction, scope and strategy..."

The article then covers a wide range of environmental fix-ups and puts price
tags on them.  I originally intended to list each restoration project and its
estimated cost but decided that such a listing here would be too misleading.
Putting things into neat little charts with numbers on them would make it seem
like everything is under control and money is still God.  I would not want
to risk giving false reassurance to the reader that "the bureaucrats" have got
"everything" under control since their persistant blundering in the past warns
me to be very cautious.  I will list the categories however:

 (1) Eliminate starvation and malnourishment
 (2) Provide health care
 (3) Eliminate inadequate housing and homelessness
 (4) Provide clean and abundant water
 (5) Eliminate illiteracy
 (6) Increase energy efficiency
 (7) Increase renewable energy (and phase out fossil and nuclear fuels)
 (8) Debt management
 (9) Stabilize population
(10) Reverse soil erosion
(11) Reverse deforestation
(12) Reverse ozone depletion
(13) Stop acid rain
(14) Stop global warming

And the total price tag:  "25% of the world's total annual military expenditures"

For a full report, send $5 and a request for the article 'Doing the Right 
Things' from: The World Game Institute; 3508 Market Street; Philadelphia, 
PA 19104; 215/387-0220 (would it be illegal to reprint it here?).

Now what I would like to know is anything having to do with the 
following questions (intended to be in order of decreasing priority):

 1. What are the weakest links in this proposal?
 2. How has this proposal been received by ecological experts?  
 3. How close are politicians around the world to accepting the budget described?
 4. How soon would this budget have to be adopted to prevent real catastrophe?
 5. Under what conditions would the quoted costs double or triple?
 6. Are there better model proposals that should be discussed instead?
 7. Are the methods described for stabilizing population realistic?
 8. Does this proposal adequately cover all the dangers caused by pollution? 
 9. Does this proposal propose to halt species loss?
10. Can (or should) war and peace be considered in relation to this proposal? 

                                                   (Paul Berland)
                                                (prune@athena.mit.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.save.the.earth