70 Paul Ehrlich on The Limits to Growth

Biologist Paul Ehrlich reflects on the 1972 MIT study, The Limits to Growth, on its 50th anniversary – including the fact that it has been refuted (poorly), ignored, and confirmed. The study was done by a team of scientists commissioned by the Club of Rome to develop a computer model to simulate the interaction of earth and human systems. It revealed that continuation of the then-current trends in population, industrialization, resource use and pollution would result in overshooting the carrying capacity of the Earth and result in a general collapse at some point in the first half of the 21st century.

The study results were published in the 1972 book, The Limits to Growth, which holds the record as the top-selling environmental book. The book was authored by four system dynamics scientists (Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William Behrens III). Gaya Herrington, whose 2020 analysis of The Limits to Growth was published in Yale’s Journal of Industrial Ecology, described the study and book aptly: “the authors identified society’s relentless pursuit of growth not as the solution to, but the cause of, so many of the environmental and social crises that plague humanity still today.”

“....what is it about Homo sapiens that leads us to the limits as a moth to a flame.  Why don’t we stop?  Why should we?  Can we?”   – Brian Czech, Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Read The Limits to Growth:

Online Read, but includes scans of pages and downloadable charts
https://collections.dartmouth.edu/teitexts/meadows/diplomatic/meadows_ltg-diplomatic.html

High Quality Scan
https://collections.dartmouth.edu/content/deliver/inline/meadows/pdf/meadows_ltg-001.pdf

Mentioned in Our Discussion of The Limits to Growth:

Limits to Growth 50th Anniversary Events - on Club of Rome website
https://www.clubofrome.org/ltg50-events/

UN Event June 2-3: Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity
View live on the web:
https://www.stockholm50.global/events/programme
The Stockholm+50 Conference: What You Need to Know and Why It Matters
https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/the-stockholm50-conference-what-you-need-to-know-and-why-it-matters/
Take this survey before June 2: https://www.stockholm50.global/state-planet-global-public-survey

June 10 seminar: Limits to Growth +50: Can Economies Keep Growing Indefinitely on a Finite Planet?
Organized by: Norwegian University of Life Sciences
https://www.nmbu.no/en/faculty/landsam/department/noragric/research/seminars/node/44433

The Limits to Growth at 50: From Scenarios to Unfolding Reality - by Richard Heinberg
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-02-24/the-limits-to-growth-at-50-from-scenarios-to-unfolding-reality/

Limits and Beyond (New book April 2022 from the Club of Rome, a collection of essays)
https://exapt.press/books/limits-and-beyond

Nate Hagens interviews Dennis Meadows in his podcast, The Great Simplification.
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/12-dennis-meadows

Dennis Meadows on the 50th Anniversary of the Publication of The Limits to Growth - interview by Richard Heinberg
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-02-22/dennis-meadows-on-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-publication-of-the-limits-to-growth/