by Bill Dale

JUDGING by the attention given to sixteen year old Greta Thunberg and the Extinction Rebellion, people are finally waking up to the consequences of a world predicated on perpetual growth. Of course there is no such thing as sustainable growth, because growth does eventually push up against limits - and these are real, physical limits. This is not a new idea, in 1972 the MIT study “The Limits to Growth”, sponsored by the Club of Rome, laid out a devastating critique of the economic model now better known as neoliberalism, with its academic supporter, neoclassical economics.

Unfortunately for us as inhabitants of the planet, the Limits to Growth study was subjected to attack on all sides, particularly from prominent economists, and as a result the study was ignored by governments and population alike.

A recent review of the Limits study showed that despite using very basic computing power by today’s standards, the predictions in the report were eerily accurate. So, we have wasted almost half a century and done nothing to prevent the dire consequences of our preoccupation with growth. Indeed, we are now in a much worse place, for we have several interacting themes to deal with. Let’s look at what these are.

First of all, there is global warming. Note that it is referred to as global warming, since this is the term which most accurately reflects what is happening to the planet. It was the oil and energy lobby in the US which shamefully pushed for the term “climate change” to be used instead of global warming, since they believed that climate change was a more neutral term, and less likely to lead to people wanting action to alleviate the consequences of global warming. And you know what - they were successful in framing this and in minimising the action to prevent irreversible warming.