Civilizations have overused their resources before, and collapsed or moved on, but never on a scale remotely resembling the present threat, and now the Earth is full.
Continue ReadingOnce it was the word on everyone’s lips, now “population” is the environmental issue that dares not speak its name. David Nicholson-Lord raises the flag for an unfashionable concern. Are you worried about population growth? Then you’re in the minority. Mention it as an issue to any gathering of environmentalists these days, and the reactions will range from a thinly …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version Viewed superficially, humanity’s material condition and prospects have never looked better. Modernization and affluence are unprecedentedly democratized. A more penetrating examination, however, reveals that humanity is hideously vulnerable, that its present course cannot long endure, and that a radically different type of economy is urgently needed. I. Our Growth Economy is Unsustainable …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version Dr. Diamond’s new study of “how societies choose to fail or succeed” has received considerable attention, and deservedly so. He describes eight threats to traditional societies and twelve among modern societies. He details the process by which various well-known collapses occurred in Easter Island, Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, the Anasazi, Mayan civilization, …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version This country and the world are in for profound change as the petroleum boom winds down. I find that even specialists in the fields that will be most affected have not seriously considered what that transition will be like or how they will handle it. This study is an effort to describe …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version The United Nations Population Division has put the highlights of its new population estimates and projections onto the Web1. Present world population is 6.3 billion. It is projected to rise to 8.9 billion by 2050, a number almost identical to the 1998 projection but 400 million below the 2000 version and slightly …
Continue ReadingThis book explores a fundamental but seldom asked question: has the recent growth of human numbers and economic activity imperiled our well-being, social justice and even the natural support systems on which we and other creatures depend?
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version. The term “sustainable development” has become fashionable, but it is regularly used in the sense of “sustainable growth,” a self-contradictory concept beloved by those who want to continue at the same old stand growth as a solution to all problems and yet couch it in terms that will not offend environmentalists. The …
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Lindsey Grant examines the human condition as population and consumption levels approach the edges of the Earth’s ability to support them.
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version Life Expectancy Drives U.S. and World Population Growth An NPG Forum Paper The Optimum Population Series by Robert Costanza July 1990 This is the eighth in a series of NPG Forum papers exploring the idea of optimum population what would be a desirable population size for the United States? Without any consensus …
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