We can be like them, proclaims the giant neon sign on the road to development. The Third World will become the First World. It will be rich and happy, as long as it behaves itself and does what it's told. If the Third World produced and squandered as much as the rich countries, our planet would perish. Already acid rain kills our forests and lakes.
Toxic waste poisons our rivers and seas.
In the South, agro-industry rips both trees and humans from their roots. With delirious enthusiasm, mankind is sawing the branch on which it is seated. The average American consumes as much as 50 Haitians. Nothing would ever happen again. We would have to change planets.