CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I The Nature of Exponential Growth
II The Limits to Exponential Growth
III Growth in the World System
IV Technology and the Limits to Growth
V The State of Global Equilibrium

COMMENTARY by The Club of Rome Executive Committee

APPENDIX

 

COMMENTARY

ln inviting the MIT team to undertake this investigation, we had two immediate objectives in mind. One was to gain insights into the limits of our world system and the constraints it puts on human numbers and activity. Nowadays, more than ever before, man tends toward continual, often accelerated, growth&emdash;of population, land occupancy, production, consumption, waste, etc.&emdash;blindly assuming that his environment will permit such expansion, that other groups will yield, or that science and technology will remove the obstacles. We wanted to explore the degree to which this attitude toward growth is compatible with the dimensions of our finite planet and with the fundamental needs of our emerging world society&emdash; from the reduction of social and political tensions to improvement in the quality of life for all.

A second objective was to help identify and study the dominant elements, and their interactions, that influence the longterm behavior of world systems. Such knowledge, we believe, cannot be gathered by concentrating on national systems and short-run analyses, as is the current practice. The project was not intended as a piece of futurology. It was intended to be, and is, an analysis of current trends, of their influence on each other, and of their possible outcomes. Our goal was to provide warnings of potential world crisis if these trends are allowed to continue, and thus offer an opportunity to make changes in our political, economic, and social systems to ensure that these crises do not take place.

Back...