The limits to growth

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Wed Nov 7, 2007 7:01 AM EST

Article Source: project-syndicate.org

politics, china, india, climate-change, greenhouse, resources, kyoto, limits-to-growth, malthusian-limits

When, in the 1970's, the Club of Rome issued its famous report on the "Limits to Growth," the reaction was one of concern. Over the years, however, as the world economy continued to grow without interruption – and, in the current age of globalization, seemingly without limits – the dire predictions of the Club of Rome have become increasingly an object of ridicule. And yet the Club of Rome's basic insight – that we live and work in a finite global ecosystem, with exhaustible resources and capacities – has returned to challenge us again

These undesirable consequences of the expansion of world markets have assumed alarming proportions within a relatively short period of time. China is on course, this year or next, to overtake the United States as the world's largest CO2 emitter, even though its per capita emissions are only one-fifth or even less of the US level. What will the world look like when China reduces this difference to one-half? And India is following close behind China in its level of carbon emissions.

But the solution to the challenge of global climate change is as plain as day. The only chance of improvement is to decouple economic growth from energy consumption and emissions. This must happen in the emerging countries, and even more urgently in the old industrial economies.

Such decoupling can occur only if we do away with the illusion that pollution is cost-free. We can no longer get away with subsidizing economic growth and standards of living at the expense of the global environment. Human population has simply become too large to be able to afford it.

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{"commentId":1164438,"authorDomain":"gpolya"}

Gideon Polya

Very important seed, Djehuty. I was introduced as a biological scientist to the Club of Rome's "Limits to Growth" about 3 dozen years ago by hydrologists, biophysicists and plant physiologists concerned about the finiteness of the earth's resources and the mounting problem of biological sustainability.

3 dozen years on the Bush-ites in America and Australia STILL haven't got the message because of greed, spin, lying and perverse "looking the other way".

A decade ago I wrote an exhaustively referenced book on the consequences of denial, the looming problem of global warming for deltaic communities (notably Bengal) and the global crisis in biological sustainability (see: "Jane Austen and the Black Hole of british History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the the crisis in biological sustainability": link ).

A decade on the egregiously dishonest Bush-ite Government of Australia has finally conceded (under pressure from an electorate disturbed by the evidence of their own senses resonating with the opinions of a global scientific consensus) that anthropogenic (man -made) global warming is a reality but STILL won't tackle the problem.

Even today in drought-ravaged Australia - the world's worst annual per capita big country greenhouse gas polluter, the world's biggest coal exporter)and impacted by the 2 degree Celsius warming of the Indian Ocean over the last 40 years - the political response to the global warming and sustainability crisis is criminally deficient.

According to top Australian climate change scientists associated with the IPCC Australia's "fair share" commitment to greenhouse gas reduction should be 90% by 2050; the ethical and responsible Australian Greens propose 80% by 2050; the Opposition Labor Party proposes 60% by 2050 (do the math in relation to Australia's current 19.2 tonnes fossil fuel-derived CO2 per person compared to China's 3.6 and a World average of 4.2 and you find that this astonishingly equates to the 1947 racist assertion by the Australia Labor immigration Minister that "two wongs do not make a white"; see "Environmental crimes & racism. White Australia, anti-Chinese racism and climate genocide": link ).

The egregiously dishonest, irresponsible, racist, climate criminal, climate genocide-fostering Bush-iite Coalition Australian Government STILL won't set a target.

{"commentId":1164438,"threadId":"172552","contentId":"1079175","authorDomain":"gpolya"}

4 votes

#1 - Wed Nov 7, 2007 8:37 AM EST

{"commentId":1165149,"authorDomain":"benno"}

Benno Hansen

Great seed. How come you added it to zero groups when it's relevant to dozen?

{"commentId":1165149,"threadId":"172552","contentId":"1079175","authorDomain":"benno"}

2 votes

#2 - Wed Nov 7, 2007 12:02 PM EST

{"commentId":1170746,"authorDomain":"ISPY"}

I SPY

OMG Say it aint so, Capitalist supply side economics has a limit? no way. Marx could not possibly have been right all along.

{"commentId":1170746,"threadId":"172552","contentId":"1079175","authorDomain":"ISPY"}

2 votes

#3 - Fri Nov 9, 2007 2:18 AM EST

{"commentId":1170783,"authorDomain":"djehuty"}

Djehuty

Benno - I'm slack, sorry.

I SPY: ha! (cries of "Berlin Wall" as if Stalin proves something about Marx). Even the Club of Rome got that one right they just didn't have an answer.

{"commentId":1170783,"threadId":"172552","contentId":"1079175","authorDomain":"djehuty"}

1 vote

#3.1 - Fri Nov 9, 2007 3:14 AM EST

{"commentId":1170834,"authorDomain":"benno"}

Benno Hansen

Marx may have foreseen capitalism getting in trouble but did he propose a realistic solution? How about our modern politicians - those with realistic approaches to growth are rare to say the least. It seems they all assume money and wealth can be produced from Earth's resources indefinitely.

{"commentId":1170834,"threadId":"172552","contentId":"1079175","authorDomain":"benno"}

2 votes

#3.2 - Fri Nov 9, 2007 4:09 AM EST

{"commentId":1170860,"authorDomain":"djehuty"}

Djehuty

My understanding is that Marx saw the unhappiness of labour as a bigger impediment than limits of resources, but I haven't read him closely enough to say. As I've said to Eric Albert, my own belief is that human wisdom must increase to a point where anarchism becomes possible, so Benno I would say "no".

{"commentId":1170860,"threadId":"172552","contentId":"1079175","authorDomain":"djehuty"}

1 vote

#3.3 - Fri Nov 9, 2007 5:04 AM EST

{"commentId":1170880,"authorDomain":"ISPY"}

I SPY

Hmm Ok let me help then, Marx was an economic theorist. He proposed a new political system. This was called Socialism. Socialism is when the fruits of the peoples labour are distributed fairly for the benefit of all. A system where the Gap between rich and poor is rather small and there is no class distinctions.

He proposed two ways to achieve this Political goal, to lift the people out of Feudalism and religious ignorance.

1 Capitalism. The Keynesian was a slight modification to Marx's theories in Das Capital. Keynesians are also Marxists. The problem here is that it is open to corruption, greed, and it has a limited life span. There are limits to growth as every empire in history has collapsed under its own weight once it gets to a certain size. The demands of the Military and the danger of the corpratization of this (Mercenaries) are also a contributing factor.

2 Communism. A type of enforced Socialism where a dictator imposes the system on the people and after a time, the people morph into Democratic Socialism. The problem here is that people dont like to give up power. Susceptible to Oligarchies and psudo-monarchies.

The Two systems were proposed as both and the only two possible ways to lift the people out of feudal class society and achieve Socialism.

They are not ends in themselves. Neither of these systems is or was ever supposed to be a solution in itself, nor were they to be a competition where the victor was somehow the winner proving that their way was the (far) right way and thus the way we should live.

'They were both experiments to see which was the fastest way to achieve Socialism. Socialism in one country (see book Russia) should have also had its counterpart Capitalism in One Country. This was how it was until the 1980's. When both systems had reached their apex.

Then we have Capitalism in the World, Globalization. The life span of Capitalism is 20 to 25 years. No more, yes you read that right 25 years no more.

This is not a point of view an opinion or an interpretation. This IS MARIST THEORY

{"commentId":1170880,"threadId":"172552","contentId":"1079175","authorDomain":"ISPY"}

1 vote

#3.4 - Fri Nov 9, 2007 5:50 AM EST

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DJEHUTY

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The limits to growth

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