I N T E R D E P E N D E N C E

But interdependence is a difficult dream for the developed countries to achieve. In the developed, industrial countries of the world, we are screened from changes in the macro-environment by technology (Boulding 232). Take, for instance, the depletion of natural resources. We in America don't have to deal with the fact that fuel to heat our homes is in rapidly-diminishing supply. We can use the technology of solar heating to protect ourselves from this resource reduction. In less-developed countries, on the other hand, the technology for solar heating has not yet been applied. So when a resource is gone, it is gone. Residents of these "less-advanced" nations face much starker realities.

The outcome of this is that the most difficult things we deal with in the developed countries are interpersonal relationships. Think of the amount of help we get for these - there are groups for people to deal with family deaths, alcoholics in the family, children with learning disabilities, etc. Do you think support groups like these exist in the LDC's in the same scale?

So it is hard for the DC's to learn global interdependence. We need help mastering interdependence on the micro level first.

The key to arriving at a more androgynous, cooperative, and interdependent world outlook lies in the "fragility of the technological shell" (Boulding 232).