Ignoring Limits to Growth

In 1968, 30 scientists, educators, economists, industrialists, and government officials from 10 countries met at the Academia dei Lincei in Rome to discuss the present and future predicament of mankind. The first project of the Club of Rome examined the consequences of unchecked growth. A computer model developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology seemed to confirm that existing growth patterns could not be sustained. There were absolute physical limits which, if ignored, would lead to sudden collapse and to global catastrophe within a hundred years. These results were published as the book The Limits to Growth (1972). A reexamination of this project is discussed. It is concluded that the world has generally been following the patterns of growth forecast and that the implicit warning about continued growth has largely been ignored in the quest for sustainable development.<>