Exponential growth is the steady growth of anything by a fixed percentage over a period of time.  Compound interest on a savings account is a good example of exponential growth.  The late Professor Albert A. Bartlett said “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”  We fully agree. I often wonder if the …
Continue ReadingThe Washington Post recently reported that the Obama administration has approved a new proposal for natural gas exports, this time off the coast of Maryland. The recent advent of “fracking” as a drilling method has resulted in a dramatic increase in requests to explore, drill, and push for domestic production. As Lindsey Grant explained in Is Fracking an Answer? To What?: “Hydraulic …
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Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version An NPG Forum Paper by Lindsey Grant “Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” – Economist Kenneth Boulding, 1977 If there were one message I could imprint on the American mind, it would be this: Perpetual physical growth is impossible on a …
Continue ReadingAs the leading voice in the population awareness movement, NPG develops innovative, provocative, and insightful publications. We are the oldest and largest publisher of original source materials about the crucial linkages between U.S. population growth, environmental degradation, and a declining quality of life. Our papers feature original research and cutting-edge commentary by some of the movement’s finest scholars and activists. …
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A huge divide is developing across America as citizens are choosing sides on the use of hydraulic fracking to extract huge quantities of oil and gas. If you live in a state where the push is on to embrace fracking as a means to greatly increase output of fossil fuels, you are probably well aware of the pros and cons being advanced …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version box size=”large”Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking” in the popular literature; “fracing” in some technical journals) is a technique for expanding gas and oil production. It is dramatically raising expectations for future gas and oil production, and technological optimists are hailing it as the answer to fears of a decline in world fossil energy production. …
Continue ReadingScientists have long recognized the population problem, and most of the world’s national scientific societies have warned against continued growth.
Continue ReadingThe ancient Greeks used the word hubris to describe vaulting pride that challenged even the gods.
Continue ReadingFor years, it has been puzzling to see commentators debating whether peak oil is a future possibility, when the U.S. Energy Information Administration (DOE/ EIA) data showed world crude oil production peaking in 2005.
Continue ReadingThe name of the abyss is energy.
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