War

The leaders of the world’s governments have not heeded the many, obvious clues that the planet was in trouble. As long as they could control their individual areas, they were happy. They had long given up the idea of taking over another area; they had enough trouble just ruling their own. The people, true to the animals they were, had continued doing what animals do best â€" breeding. The current population was beginning to outstrip food and material production. Life wasn’t so bad in Area 2, which had more land than it could use, even if their population was double that of any other area. Area 3, for the moment, had enough land to cope; but that was not going to last much longer. Area 5 had more land than it could use; but much of the land was uninhabitable desert. In that area poverty and disease kept the population under control. Areas 1 and 4 were in the worst shape. They had each initially prospered. Farming and industry had made great strides. With the exception of a few uninhabitable areas, the cities and farms had expanded to cover all of the available land. Now they each had too many people and too few resources, and the future offered no hope of any improvement. These two major governments, pressured by over population and a lack of resources, resorted to a time honored method of resolving their problems: WAR!