PERIODICALS

can be perverse.
When trees are cut for timber, for in- stance, the profits from their sale are added to GNP. But nothing is subtracted from GNP for the loss of the forest. Econo- mists do, however, count money spent to combat environmental destruction and pollution. Thus, the $40 billion that Postel says Americans dole out to doctors each year to treat pollution-related ailments is, strangely enough, counted as wealth. De- spite its devastating effect on Alaska's wild- life, the 1...