Future of the Western Hemisphere
About this book
The Western Hemisphere, divided into 38 nations, has an abundance of biological, mineral, and physical resources, including extensive water spaces, fisheries. The hemispheric resources have always been shared among many nations; for example, there are large schools of migratory oceanic fish proceeding without boundaries between the nations. No one nation can solve the problem of future sustainability by itself; rather, all nations will have to depend on cooperation with the other.sources are shared. The 38 are governed by constitutional democratic governments The intra-hemispheric peace in the last 100 years (there have been no major protracted intra-hemispheric wars during that period) has led to a stability which has enhanced hemispheric trade, increased the sharing of resources, and strengthened relations between nations, while relieving the nations of the suffering and cost of war. Relative balances of human populations with food, water, and other natural materials including energy have been enjoyed, to our good fortune, for centuries, indeed twenty or more millennia.The critical question is: Will the Western Hemisphere's citizens modify their lives and governments to continue the enjoyment of these resources, or will an imbalance of hemispheric resources prevail over the next fifty years? For the first time, we are presenting a future analysis of the next 45-50 years of the Western Hemisphere and its nations. It is our hope that this beginning will bear fruit in modifying and examining many trends of individual, local, national, and private sector actions which are not sustainable and need modification. This study is thus a beginning, not the ultimate answer. To quantify our analysis, we have used the International Futures Model (Hughes, 1995, 2005) for each nation, summed into four regions, then summed into the whole of the Western Hemisphere. The 50-year future of the Western Hemisphere (2005-2055), has been perused, and we have found critical problems in each of the following domains of information addressed then by committees composed of wise, experienced field practitioners in the following fields: 1) Population; 2) Food and Drinking Water; 3) Health; 4) Environment; 5) Energy; 6) Legal Issues; 7) Economic Issues; 8) Poverty Alleviation; 9) Social Issues; 10) Language, Art and Culture Issues, and 11) Religious Issues.