Environmental Impact Growing Experts are increasingly worried that booming industrial production, worldwide, is resulting in a troublesome increase in industrial byproducts, which tend to trap warmth caused by sunlight. The result is gradual global warming, with 1988 setting a new record high. The historic Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1977, attempts to curb industrial emissions.

	Globalists in Control A new set of 'globalists' champion a reduction of anything that slows down world trade, which is seen as the main driver of economic efficiency. In America, Clinton signs a new 'NAFTA' trade pact with neighboring Canada and Mexico, to reduce trade restrictions. The WTO is created to manage global competition (bottom center). Giant global corporations move their factories to Asia, to exploit the low cost of labor in that region. This is called 'offshoring.'
	Two Worlds Almost all global wealth is now concentrated in what is being called the 'Global North.' The unequal distribution of oilfields on the planet, which fuel industrial development, is mirrored by a similar pattern in the location of coal fields. With abundant fuels, industrial cities have developed almost everywhere in the Global North. In the 'Global South,' Africa is dominated by barren desert sands in the north, and a matching industrial desert in the south. A similar imbalance exists in global power.