>Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 17:17:35 -0500 >From: Island Press <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >WHICH WORLD WEB: SCENARIOS FOR THE 21st CENTURY ON-LINE > >A companion web-site to the book, WHICH WORLD?: SCENARIOS FOR THE >21ST CENTURY , has been launched by Dr. Allen Hammond at Which World Web. >This site provides supplemental on-line materials to the book. > >In Which World?, Hammond examines the critical trends and identifies the >factors that matter most in shaping the future. He presents scenarios that >describe and analyze three different trajectories into the future: > > * Market World > In which economic and human progress is driven by the liberating > power of free markets and human initiative; > > * Fortress World > In which unattended social and environmental problems diminish > progress, dooming hundreds of millions of humans to lives of > rising conflict and violence; > > * Transformed World > In which human ingenuity and compassion succeed in offering a > better life, not just a wealthier one, and in seeking to extend > those benefits to all of humanity. > >Which World Web stimulates the debate (initiated by Dr. Hammond's book) on >some of the most important issues of our time. It offers a unique on-line >resource for all those interested in sustaining the earth's legacy and >raises questions >about the future, such as: > > * Are free market approaches sufficient to bring a better and more > properous future? > > * Might poor countries be overwhelmed by growing populations, > deteriorating resources, and weak governments? > > * Will the price of progress be a diminished Earth for future > generations? > > * Or will fundamental social and political change transform our societies > and create a more peaceful, equitable, and environmentally-sound world? > >The site is organized into 3 main sections. > > * Trends: Both global and regional > > Information about a number of critical trends including > Demographic (population), Economic (income, economic growth), > Environmental (pollution, land/water scarcity), and Social and > Political (literacy, democracy). Trends are examined globally and > for each of 7 major continental-scale regions of the world. These > trends, projected out to the year 2050, suggest constraints on the > future. > > * Scenarios and a Resource Library > > This section contains short scenarios--structured stories--that > offer conflicting perspectives on how events in each of these > regions may unfold in coming decades. > > * An Online Dialogue on the Future > > The site will also be hosting an online dialogue about the future. > You can register by leaving your name and email on the main > Comment page. If you desire, you can use the comment tool to post > your comments now on what you find in this site or your answers to > the questions the site raises about the future. Dr. Hammond plans > to contact a group of people---those who have expressed an > interest in these topics through the comment tool--- to invite > them to participate in a facilitated discussion about long term > sustainability issues. > >The site also contains a library of links to related websites. Amogst these >sites you will find sources of environmental and economic data, educational >resources, and more. > The URL is http://mars3.gps.caltech.edu/whichworld// >Visit Eco-Compass http://www.islandpress.org for an enhanced >version of this feature.
