Limits to Growth page turner

In the 1972 bestselling book Limits to Growth (LtG), the authors Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers & William Behrens developed a global simulation model called World 3. With global population, economic growth, resource consumption, and pollution raising exponentially, they examined the future of human existence on a finite planet. The World 3 model pointed to a future in which, in absence of significant and structural changes, global society would experience sharp declines in available food, standards of living, and ultimately the human population, within the 21st century. This page turner highlights the core questions that sparked the work of the MIT-based team. More than a prediction, the book was a data-driven invitation to choose a path of human existence within the biophysical capacity of the Earth. The core question of choice still holds, but options for impact are shrinking, so choices need to be bolder.

[Vanderhorstsr]

I just watched Jay W. Forrester on the video “The Growth and Collapse of Markets.” My reservation on the long-term cycle is that it was limited to 200 years under the industrial civilization.

[a]

Be cautious on infinity and continuity. Those are accurate mental facts, but approximations to reality.

[michaelfoye]

Fortunately Malthusian analysis has always been outdone by the ability of free people to use their creativity to build more wealth and use resources more efficiently and sustainably over time. Otherwise we'd all be dead several times over.