A review of The Ravishing of Lol Stein by Margurite Duras

Marguerite Duras paints a depiction of love in her novel The Ravishing of Lol Stein. The image of love that the reader develops through the course of this novel is not clear. The confusing nature of love is communicated to the reader through depictions of events in Lol Stein's life. One of the problems that surfaced was confusion as to what was real and what was imaginary. Frequently the true nature of relationships are misunderstood. Individuals dream of romantic ideals and passionate love. They may think that they have achieved these goals and dreams. Lol believed that Michael Richardson really did love her as she loved him. The time at the Forest Hotel where he told her he loved her made her believe in her dreams all the more. Lol did not give up her dreams after losing Michael. Instead, her dreams were focused elsewhere. Exactly what she wants is never known by anyone; she does not seem to know herself. Jack says that during her long walks through town she is persisting on thoughts of the Town Beach Ball. One possibility is that she was disappointed with reality and that she preferred fantasy. Her failure to achieve her romantic ideals may have led her to this pursuit of fantasy instead of reality. Truth and reality exist only in the minds of the characters in this book. Even our narrator Jack tells the story through his own clouded perception. He admits that he is indeed in love with Lol Stein throughout his whole narration. Parts of the story are not only distorted but totally fabricated by him. Compounding the problem of deciding what was real is the problem of communication. Quite often people are afraid to come out and say what they want to. Duras creates very believable dialogue in this novel because the characters almost never say what they really want to. Lol neglected to say anything at all to John Bedford about the events of her life that led up to their bizarre, silent courtship walk through the streets of South Tahla. When Lol spoke to Jack and Tatiana for the first time, she only talked about the furnishings of her house and the flowers in her garden. Clearly, Lol could not come out and say what she wanted to say. She may not have known what she wanted to say. She may have felt that her old friend would reject her if she said anything but agreeable and passive platitudes. Also, she did not want to bring up old memories in conversation only to have Tatiana say that she could not remember those events happening. For this reason. Lol does not bring up any stories of the past. Perhaps the clearest for of communication that the character engaged in was nonverbal. Facial expressions, directions of gaze, changes in coloring, tones of voice and bodily postures often tell us more accurately thinking. Tatiana gave cues as to her relationship with Jack through nonverbal means. "Whenever she gets to her feet, moves from one spot to another, whenever she rearranges her hair, or sits down, her movements are sensual. Her girlish body, her wound, her happy misery cries out, calls for the paradise of her lost unity, calls endlessly..." Even though Tatiana did not say anything to Lol about her affair at this point, Lol was able to sense that something was happening through her nonverbal communication. The whole narrative provides examples of the role of nonverbal communication in relationships. People involved in relationships in contemporary society rely heavily on these cues. The assumption is that while people can lie to say anything they want, the lovers gaze is impossible to fabricate. People think that intimacy starts only after a physical display of affection. In order to be successful in the competitive world of dating, one must master this form of communication. Relationships that are over must be free from any touching. In the end of the novel Lol is "stretched out on the bed, she does not move a muscle. She is worried. She is motionless, remains there where I have placed her. Her eyes follow me across the room as I undress, as though I were a stranger." At this point in the novel we see that the physical relationship between Lol and Jack is over. In the end the reader has to wonder if Lol ever was in love at all with anybody but Michael. The reader has to try and make sense of the events in this novel. What the reader gets instead of any clear answers is an accurate depiction of the confusing nature of passionate love.

Term paper: American Studies

Introduction

Postmodern thought is the dominant philosophical movement in today's institutions of higher education. Postmodernists view reality as a state constructed by the mind, not perceived by it. Prevailing versions of reality are disseminated by those in the power to do so. In America, those having the power to do this are the white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant males. The postmodernists want to free themselves from the subjective truths of this group. The tool that the postmodernists use to free themselves from the influences of this group is called deconstruction. Ecofeminism and deep ecology are two modes of postmodernist thought that use deconstruction.

The Ecofeminist Perspective

In her publication Sultans of Sleaze: Public Relations and the Media, Joyce Nelson criticizes corporate influences upon thought. Nelson writes that concern for environmental issues is now mainstream in our society. The reasons for this acceptance of environmentalism goes back to 1962 with the publication of Rachel Carlson's book Silent Spring. Knowing that consumers are increasingly aware of environmental problems, corporations responded through the "greening" of establishment PR. According to Nelson, instead of changing the status quo, corporate and governmental organizations find it easier to merely run a PR campaign to improve their environmental image. She supports this point well with several examples. Notable was the example of the British Colombia Council of Forest Industries in 1988. Responding to attack for "hideously irresponsible" logging practices, the B.C. Council of Forest Industries launched a campaign to convince the public of its "sound forest stewardship and reforestation programs." The campaign took the form of educational displays in shopping malls, posters at bus stops, ads inside buses, color supplement delivered to most households, educational packages for B.C. classrooms, billboards, print media and television advertising. The subjective truth revealed in this costly PR campaign was that the status quo logging practices were just fine. Nelson disagrees with this PR message. She compares this PR as a sort of "mind pollution." After stating several more examples of corporate PR, Nelson goes on to give the overall ecofeminist stance on environmental issues. The assumption of the ecofeminist mode of thought is that our current life-style is a "prescription for planetary suicide." Instead of the more moderate reform movement, the ecofeminist approach is radical. In order to save the earth we must strip ourselves free from the modern multinational-based economy and return to a more simple, environmentally responsible lifestyle. The cultural constructs that we must free ourselves from are those of consumerism and progress based on owning the "latest, newest and most convenient."

My Analysis of Ecofeminist Thought

The ideas presented in The "Greening" of Establishment PR: Mind Pollution on the Rise are the subjective truths of Joyce Nelson. I agree with her when she criticizes the industrial status quo for disseminating information that only supports that industries privileged position. The example of the logging industry PR apparently worked to convince the people of B.C that their forests would be around forever. The people who were subjected to this campaign could have critically analyzed the commercials, billboards and so on, but unfortunately, most people will give in to accepting whatever they hear if they hear it enough. I agree with Nelson on several other points. I agree that our notion of "the good life" and "progress" are seriously flawed. This concept goes back to the Enlightenment thinker Rene Descartes, who said that science and technological innovations should be used for the betterment of mankind. This thinking led people to attempt to control every aspect of nature for human needs. It was not until the 1970s that people discovered that respect for nature was also advantageous for humanity. Technological advances and attempts at domination over nature do not improve life for the vast majority of people if quality of life is measured by the amount of hours worked. If one assumes that people would rather spend their time relaxing with leisure activities, the Americans are not doing well. In contrast to the Americans, "African Bushmen, enjoy material and social plenty, working at most on average of three to five hours per day at a leisurely pace to satisfy all their material needs."* Even though the average American worker spends much more time on the job than the average African Bushman, I have serious doubts that Americans are willing to give up what they have in turn for this type of lifestyle. Is this in fact what Joyce Nelson is suggesting in her writing? This is not clear. There are no directions as to how we are supposed to change, there is only encouragement to "reclaim our imaginations which have been colonized by a century of PR." The problem with postmodernist thought is exactly this. Nelson tells us what we should not believe, but she neglects to tell us what we should. Even if the ecofeminists could convince everyone to give up their consumerist lifestyles *Bruce Rich, Mortgaging the Earth, The World Bank and Environmental Impoverishment. would the earth be better off? Through industrialization, nations have been able to solve the demographic crisis of high birth rate and lower death rate. What ends up saving the earth in the long run may actually be further industrialization in areas of the world that are currently developing. Progress is not a construct promoted by transnational corporate greed, progress is a necessity for reaching sustainability. By employing the vast majority of people in urban centers, industrialized nations protect rural areas for agricultural and conservation purposes. If we were to return to a subsistence way of life, birth rates would go up as families needed farm labor.

The Deep Ecology Perspective

The perspective offered by Joni Seager in her piece The Eco-Fringe: Deep Ecology can also be characterized as extreme. The central concept that is deconstructed by the Deep Ecologists is the Descartian notion of dominion over nature. This social construction of "mastering the wild" is destructive and masculine. Deep ecologists seek to free themselves from this thinking and replace it with a feminine relationship towards nature, one of accommodation and reciprocity. In her writing, Seager criticizes the deep ecologists from her feminist perspective. She deconstructs the deconstructivist deep ecology movement. Instead of helping the women's movement, she claims that the deep ecology movement actually hurt it. The women's movement is aimed at self realization for women. Women are supposed to go out and achieve an independent existence. Seager writes that the deep ecology movement actually is detrimental to this, even with the feminist overtones of the deep ecological relationship towards nature. The concept of self promoted by deep ecology is selflessness, unbounded oneness, total connectedness, and denial of independent identity in favor for merging self identity with the earth. According to Seager, this gets women nowhere. I assume that she thinks the way to get ahead is not to assume selflessness, but to assume a dominant, self motivated role in society. Also notable is her criticism of the deep ecology criticism of the human race as a sort of "cancer" on the earth. I agree with Seager on this point. I believe that all human activity is not inherently opposed to nature. Human beings are just as much a part of the natural landscape as all of the other life forms that we share it with. The deep ecologists go too far when they say that we need a drastic 90% reduction in human population to restore environmental quality. They have been criticized for being misanthropic for this. Exactly what is the carrying capacity for the earth is a controversial topic. If everyone wants a few acres with which to have a home with a big yard and garden, then we have already surpassed this figure. If everyone wants to merely survive, then the earth can hold a few billion more people. Despite uncertainty about the exact figure, everyone can agree that it is finite.

Conclusion

Environmental problems are serious ones and will continue to be so in the future. Changes in the way we live our lives will have to be made, most likely involuntary. When the oil runs out we will have to find new ways of getting around. When the sea level rises from global warming, we will have to move out of our beachfront property. Joni Seager's writing is primarily about feminism. Just as Joyce Nelson criticized without giving solutions, Seager points out many problems with deep ecology but offers no solutions. These are the limits of postmodern thought. The true value of postmodern thought is that through all of the criticism, we can get a little closer to the Truth. Independent thought and critical thinking attack every belief, in the end only the beliefs that are strong enough to withstand this criticism will remain. These beliefs will be the ones closest to the Truth.

Term Paper for Geography 325: Energy and the Developing Nations

"To get rich is glorious" -Deng Xiaoping

Introduction

The Peoples Republic Of China is a nation of more than 1.2 billion people. This nation's economy has seen double digit growth in recent years. Still, as the per capita income is only a few hundred US dollars, the economic growth surges ahead. At these growth rates, China faces a crisis that threatens continuing growth. This crisis is electricity shortage. The per capita consumption of electricity is only 780 kilowatt-hours in China compared with the 12,711 kilowatt hours per person the Americans use (Zitch, 1997). As a partial solution to this problem, the Chinese Communist Party has embarked on a truly monumental project- the construction of a hydroelectric dam across the Yangtze river. This dam, called the Three Gorges Dam, is expected to generate the power of 18 nuclear power plants when it is finished, making it the worlds largest dam in terms of electricity generation. The physical and cultural geography of the surrounding area will be and is being profoundly affected by this project.

Physical Geography of the Three Gorges Area

The Yangtze river is the third longest in the world at nearly 4,000 miles. There are many cities along the banks of this river; industrial cities like Chonquing, Yichang and Chengdu. The banks of the river rise up alongside it to form great gorges at three locations along the rivers journey from its headwaters in the Himalayas to its entry into the East China Sea. These gorges are named Quotang, Wu and Xiling. Cliffs rise up 4,000 feet in some areas alongside the river making it a popular site for classical Chinese landscape painting. The river has a long history of use. The area upstream from the dam's construction site contains evidence of inhabitation dating back 30,000 to 50,000 years. Downstream from where the dam will be built is a fertile agricultural region where close to half the nation's food is grown. The river is known for its devastating flooding that has killed 300,000 in this century alone. Controlling this flooding is another reason why the dam is being built. Once completed, the dam will flood an area 370 miles long. This land is currently inhabited by 1.9 million people. This is twice the number of people that live on Oahu. Whole new cities are being constructed on higher ground. Half of the people that need to move are farmers. It is estimated that the reservoir will take 240,000 acres of farmland out of production. This is extremely important in a nation so overpopulated that there is only the amount of farmland equivalent of one third of a tennis court for each person (Hertgaard, 1997). Culturally, these farmers will have to move from their ancestral homes to somewhere else. They will have to learn skills that will allow them to live in cities.

Sedimentation Problems

The reasons for constructing this dam are not only flood control and electricity generation, but also for the formation of a waterway that will be navigable by large cargo ships. In order for ships to get in and out of the large reservoir behind the dam, locks will be built at the site. A problem that may impede this goal of an international port in the center of China is sedimentation. The Yanxtze is one of the most sediment filled rivers in the world. The plan for handling this sediment in the Three Gorges Reservoir is to maintain two water levels in the reservoir. During flood season (May through September), the water level will be kept at a lower level called Flood Control Level. The water flowing in the river during flood season has a higher concentration of sediments and will be allowed to go downstream through the dam to generate power. After the flood season, the water level will be raised to Normal Pool Level by impounding the water behind the dam. The idea behind having two water levels is to forcibly flush out sediments once a year through the lowering of the water level. This flushing is not seen as a complete solution to the sedimentation problem, the rate of accumulation in the reservoir is expected to be greater than the rate of discharge. Exactly how much sediment flows through the Yangtze and when the reservoir will become filled with sediments is extremely difficult to calculate. The goals of the Three Gorges Dam- flood control and electricity generation will not be possible if and when sediments do fill up the reservoir. It is estimated that this will occur in 90 to 100 years. A problem that could occur much closer to the time of the dam's completion is sedimentation at the head of the reservoir. The large particles that the river carries (sand, gravel and cobbles) are the first particles to drop out and will be deposited at the head of the reservoir. This area is exactly where the Chongquing deep draft harbor is proposed. It is estimated that 200,000 cubic meters of gravel may need to be dredged from this area every year from the Chongquing area (Leopold, 1996). Downstream from the Three Gorges Dam construction site is the productive alluvial plain around Wuhan and Shanghai. Reduced sediment flow to this productive agricultural region may compromise the morphology and stability of the channels on this alluvial plain that are conditioned by the combination of clear water and sediment. Experience in many countries demonstrates that the result may be bed and bank erosion.

The World Bank's Refusal to Take Part

For these reasons and others such as official corruption, many international lending institutions have refused to fund this project. Even the World Bank, an organization known for financing wholesale environmental destruction, has refused to fund this project. The World Bank is not funding this project because it violates their guidelines, which were adopted in response to growing concerns about social and environmental impacts. Guidelines for dam safety were issued in 1977; for involuntary resettlement in 1980, 1986 and 1990; for safeguards for indigenous people in 1982; for natural habitat in 1986 and 1995; for environmental aspects of dams and reservoirs; and for environmental assessment in 1991. Even with these lending guidelines, the World Bank still continues to fund dam projects, at the rate of about four a year. To date, the World Bank has only assisted in three percent the dams in the developing nations. China has been the World Bank's largest borrower since 1992. In fiscal year 1997, China received $2.8 billion from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IRBD) and $300 million from the International Development Association (IDA) (www.worldbank.org). Even without help from the World Bank, construction of the Three Gorges Dam continues. In deciding whether or not to finance dam projects, the World Bank weighs costs and benefits for the recipient of the loan. Of the 50 dam projects that the World Bank has financed, 37 of these are yielding acceptable or potentially acceptable cost/benefit ratios according to the Bank's Operations Evaluation Department. Several conclusions can be drawn from this. Primarily, dam projects do provide economic benefits. The 50 dams financed by the World Bank have the generation capacity of 39,000 MW. This is the equivalent of 51 million tons of fuel. They control floods and provide water for urban populations, industrial development and irrigation schemes. In Pakistan, the Tarbela and Mangla dams are estimated at about $260 million annually. One can conclude that dam construction will continue as long as there are places to put them. The construction cost of the Three Gorges Dam includes the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of people. Of the 50 dam projects financed by the World Bank, 830,000 people were resettled. This number is less than the expected 1.2 million that need to move when the Three Gorges Dam is completed. Viewed this way, it is not surprising that the World Bank refuses to take part in this project.

Historical Perspectives

For thousands of years, China remained relatively unchanged. Familism and Confucion yin/yang philosophy prevailed as the most important values in Chinese society. During the dynastic period of Chinese history, the arts flourished and civilization achieved a highly sophisticated and stable existence. The only interruptions to life in this period were the natural disasters that occurred, these include the devastating floods that the mighty Yangtze river caused. In classical Chinese landscape painting, man is seen in portraits as small and insignificant in the larger scheme of nature. Given this past of respect for nature it is hard to understand how today, less than a hundred years after the fall of the last dynasty, the Chinese have radically changed their value system and their view of nature. This change of mind is vividly portrayed in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, which is scheduled to be completed in the year 2009. Why such a change of attitudes towards nature? The answer to this lies in Chinese history. Previous to the opium war, China practiced isolation from other nations. The Chinese believed that they did not need to associate with any of the other nations because of what they thought was their cultural superiority. This practice came to an end with the humiliating seizure of Hong Kong by the British. The Chinese realized at this point that they needed to modernize if they wanted to save themselves from colonization by Europe. This is the event that started Chinese modernization. Instead of mere survival, the goal of becoming competitive on the global economy has provided the impetus for construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Marginalised is the uniqueness of Confucian Chinese cultural values in favor of burger joints, beepers, televisions, and other mass consumed goods that characterize "the good life" of industrialized nations (Spoehr, 1956). Is wholesale environmental destruction a necessary step in modernization? Without any outside help, such as assistance in construction of cleaner burning coal plants, China is left to deal with this problem on their own. Throughout history, pollution and environmental degradation have been closely associated with industrialization (Engels, 1845). Only recently in our country did we have factories pumping vast quantities of pollutants into the air and waterways. Analogous to the Three Gorges Dam is our TVA project. Only through success and wealth have we been able to enact and enforce legislation (CERCLA) to clean up our act. Hopefully after more industrialization in China, they too will be able to enforce their environmental protection laws.

Chinese Energy Policy

The control of economic activities by governmental institutions has lessened in the postmodern world. Most recently we have seen the abandonment of pursuit of Communist idealism in everything but name in The Peoples Republic of China. This abandonment took the form of a "sink or swim" policy for the previously subsidized state businesses. The only nations still stubbornly clinging to centralized planning- Cuba and the Peoples Republic of Korea, are on their knees, and about to collapse at any moment. The ideal of social equality and prosperity is now pursued through the competitive capitalistic economic system. In the energy sector of the Chinese economy, government has given up much of its control. The government acts as a planning organization now, instead of an owning organization. It is probable that governmental control in the energy sector will be more pronounced than that of other sectors of the Chinese economy like agriculture or commerce. The reason for this is that the energy sector is rather well defined and involves few units. Energy also qualifies for extensive central planning because it is critical to all other sectors of the economy. Even in mature capitalist economies, energy is distributed through public utilities. In a new market economy, the energy sector is too important to be left to "the invisible hand," which is a force that CCP officials can not control. Also important in China's energy situation is the investment of capital, division of labor, and repatriation of profits.

Changes in the Chinese Economy

China has seen rapid growth in GDP during its transition from a command to market based economy, something that started in 1978. The modern world economy model views this growth as a successful relationship between technology systems and socio-institutional frameworks. Previous to 1978, China knew of the technology systems, but the organizational style was unsuited for them. When viewed within the Kondratiev's long wave cycle, the growth of the Chinese economy does not follow the world capitalist economy in its downward progression. Due to China's cheap and plentiful labor, the cyclical effect of the world economy has not bothered China. The Chinese worker does not compete with the worker from the core economies because of the division of labor in the world system. The jobs that the Chinese worker does are either done by machines or not done at all in the core economies. The core economies do not compete with China for markets either. For the greater part, Chinese manufactures are not sophisticated enough to compete with those of the core economies. More sophisticated products, such as cellular phones, will be manufactured by the transnational corporations. This type of economic activity does not come at the expense of the core economies because nearly all of the profits are expatriated. Many industrial processes, such as steel, concrete and chemical production will remain in China. These products do not pose a threat to the core economies because they are so polluting that the core economies would rather they take place somewhere else. The control of the Chinese economy until recently has been very strictly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. The Stalinist model of economic planning led China towards "gargantuan , energy intensive development." As a result of this, and the conversion of boilers from coal fueled to oil fueled in the 1970s, China became the most inefficient nation in energy use per economic output. The industrial sector uses more than two thirds of the nations commercial energy. In the energy intensive industries, such as steel, cement and glass, efficiencies are considerabley less than US or Japanese efficiencies, the reason for this being that the processes do not take advantage of economies of scale. In order to combat this inefficiency and slower than expected growth in the oil industry, officials began to talk about energy conservation around 1977. The action finally came in 1980 with the formation of the State Energy Commission. Today, China is currently undergoing its "Ninth Five Year Plan," (1996-2000) which is aimed at increasing energy production 20 gigawatts throughout every year of the plan. This is equivalent to adding a major electric power station every two to three weeks.

Energy Efficiency in China

Control over energy resource efficiency has taken many forms. The idea is to promote the application of new technologies to increase the efficiency and strengthen energy conservation legislation and enforcement. On November 1, 1997, the National People's Congress passed the Law on Energy Conservation of the People's Republic of China, which provides general efficiency guidelines, directs the government to establish energy efficiency policies and includes some methods of enforcement. The energy conservation program, which has been going on since 1977, has been rather successful. Energy intensity, a measure of energy consumed per unit of economic output, has dropped by over 4 percent each year since 1977. Without this reduction, China would now be consuming twice as much energy as it does currently. Given the amount of problems caused by burning fossil fuels, and the continued inefficiency of China's energy usage, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Forign Investment The investment of capital in Chinese energy industries is very important for increased growth of their economy. Both Chinese money and foreign money is now used for the building of power plants. China's largest hydroelectric scheme, the Three Gorges Dam is partially funded by increased electricity rates in China and by foreign investment. In addition to foreign investment in this project, foreign assistance is sought in technology transfer, equipment sales engineering services and trade. The geologic potential of China includes chances for joint venture investment in oil and gas exploration, drilling and enhanced recovery, coal transport and conservation of energy. Transnationals such as Royal Dutch Shell, Texaco, Agip, BP, and Yukong Limited are all pursuing investments. Profits from investments made by these corporations will inevitably end up leaving the Chinese economy. The World Bank will also profit at the expense of China. Hopefully enough industry can develop in China so that they do not end up in a debt trap. Spatially, this investment of capitol will develop a new industrial landscape in many areas. This investment will differ greatly from place to place, increasing regional inequities. For example, development of the giant Shan-Gan-Ning gas field in North-West China could result in a growth pole. Great differences in the division of labor exist when China is viewed in the world system paradigm. Labor intensive, low paying jobs in manufacturing are the only alternative to peasant farming for most people. These inexpensive manufactured goods support the affluent lifestyle of the core economies. Why does China feel such a great need to rush towards modernization? There are many reasons for this. In order to become independent among today's nation-states, nations must be competitive. If not, you get left behind, just as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea has. For the individual, consumerism is appealing. People find out about all of the wonderful things that they can buy on television, in the window displays of stores and on billboards and they think that all of these products and services will improve their lives. From the perspective of the CCP, to stay in power is to keep everyone happy, and give them what they want.

The Importance of Energy in the Developing Nations

The postmodern world that we live in is a divided one. Great differences in income and quality of life exist between the core and periphery nations. This difference is apparent in the comparative rate of energy consumption between core and periphery states. In 1991, energy consumption in the United States was 20 times higher than in India and 80 times higher than in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ebenhack, 1995). Economic growth is occurring throughout the periphery, especially among the nations that constitute the ASEAN trading block. At the same time, the United States share of the global economy continues to shrink. Economists such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx argued successfully that the key factors of production are land labor and capitol. Economists now know that there is another all important factor in industrialization and economic growth. This factor is energy. The preindustrial source of energy was largely human and animal muscle. It was people and animals who pushed the plows in the fields and ground grains. Manufacturing was done with hand tools on a small scale. Wood transformed into charcoal supplied heat for preindustrial metal production and brickmaking. England's industrialization needed more power than mere muscles could provide and new sources of power were tapped. The first of these was waterpower in the form of waterwheels placed in fast flowing streams. Coal power quickly replaced wood as the forests were cut down by England's growing population. Increasing technology and sophistication of the industrial and post industrial landscape needs more and more power. The small streams that supplied power in England's industrial revolution became insufficient to supply the power for all of the needs of industry and commerce. This same change is happening in the periphery as more power is needed for the cars, planes, fluorescent lighting, computers, microwaves, and salad shooters that we need for our affluent lifestyle. Where will the power come from to supply the growing needs of the periphery? The answer to this question varies from place to place. In Japan, there are few natural resourses, yet they have an energy intensive economy. The Japanese first developed their economy through labor intensive, not energy intensive industry. This included silk production that was exported throughout the world, but especially to their Asian neighbors. Further economic growth and industrialization needed greater sources of power and Japan looked to Imperialistic military conquest for these sources of energy. By the time of World War II, Japan was already completely industrialized and adjusted well to the post war economy through exports of manufactured goods such as television sets, cars and ships (Knox and Agnew, 1994). These exports allow the import of fuel without creating an unfavorable overall trade imbalance for themselves. Problems With Fossil Fuels What will happen if everyone in the less developed countries burns more coal and oil? This would lead to increased reliance upon the volatile OPEC region. In 1973, the Arab-Israeli war brought world oil prices up fourfold. Oil is already the most important commodity in world trade, making up around 13% of the total by value (Auer, 1981). The oil crisis shocked Americans, who suddenly understood their dependency upon foreign oil while waiting in line at the gas station to fill up the family car that got 8 miles to a gallon going downhill with a good back wind. This dependency goes both ways. Recently, Iraq has been forced into a state of submission by the United Nations by an embargo on foreign oil sales. Another problem that the world faces from increased reliance upon fossil fuels is from environmental damage. The accumulation of greenhouses gasses (carbon dioxide and methane) in our worlds atmosphere is suspected to be changing the planets climate. The most serious effect of global warming caused by the increase of these gasses is the melting of the polar ice caps and subsequent raising of sea level. The greenhouse effect may also cause desertification of certain areas used for crop production. The problem of global warming includes the burning of biomass, the dominant form of fuel for cooking in the less developed nations.

Energy Problems in China

China, a nation that uses more energy than any nation besides Russia and the US has seen rapid economic growth in recent years. Increased burning of fossil fuels will inevitably lead to further accumulation of greenhouse gasses and greater incidence of acid rain. Energy production has grown more than fifteen-fold since 1952 in China (Encyclopedia Americana, 1993). About two thirds of this is derived from coal and about a fifth from crude oil, with much smaller shares from water sources and natural gas (Encyclopedia Americana, 1993). There are many problems that China faces in the energy sector of their economy other than the environmental degradation and health problems from burning coal. China lags behind the rest of the world in efficiency of the use of energy. China's use of energy per economic output is far higher than that of other developing nations. Another problem is that the expansion of energy production slowed after the 1970s. This slowdown was partly an attempt to make the state owned businesses more efficient in their energy use. Compounding this slowdown in energy production is the fact that Chinese coal mining methods are outdated and the long-term emphasis on exploiting known oil reserves at the expense of finding new ones. The coal mining area is located in the northern province of Shanxi; production of coal has exceeded the capability of the rail system to move the coal where it is needed. Once electricity is generated in China, there is no guarantee that it will get to where it is needed. Power generation has developed far more rapidly than transmission, there are several regional power grids that can distribute power among cities in two or three adjacent provinces, but many smaller grids are not connected with the regional systems. There is a severe shortage of high-voltage lines (such as 500 kilovolts) to transmit power efficiently over long distances in order to link the existing regional power grids. What is being done to solve this problem? A partial solution to this problem is the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Hopefully, with the recent privatization of state run businesses, efficiency in power use can improve as an incentive for profit making.

Energy Spending in Asia

The whole of Asia, with the exception of Japan, is rapidly building power plants, roads, telephone poles and other infrastructure improvements in order to catch up to Europe and the US. The Three Gorges Dam is just one of many expensive projects under construction right now. The pace of economic growth in the region is evident by the scale and cost of these projects. Currently, China is putting $6 billion in roads, a port and telecommunications links for Shanghai's new Pudung district. Three billion dollars is going into the 1,500 mile railway linking Beijing to Kowloon (Naisbitt, 1996). South Korea is investing $13.4 billion in a high-speed train link between Seoul and Pusan, and another $50 billion will be spent on thirty new power plants, including seven nuclear plants, by the year 2000 (Naisbitt, 1996). Unlike Japan and England, places where industrialization was done relatively independently of foreign nations, the TNCs have come running to invest in Asia. General Electric and Westinghouse are competing for power projects in places like Java and the Philippines with other companies such as Siemans, ABB Asea Brown Boveri, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Heavy and Toshiba. The Asian Development Bank figures that Asia will spend $1 trillion by the year 2000, mainly on energy, telecommunications and transportation. (Naisbitt, 1996)

Conclusion

Hopefully everything will work out all right. The recent currency devaluations and stock market crashes in Asia suggest that everything is not going as well as planned. The debts that these nations are incurring could severely hinder economic growth in years to come. One only needs to look at what happened in South America with their debt problems and inflation in the 1980s to see what may happen in Asia. The problem for development in the periphery does not stop at shortages of capital, land and energy In today's global economy, development is dependent on contingencies between every nation, whether it is an oil exporting, oil consuming, manufacturing, consuming lending or borrowing nation.