Beyond the Limits

"Beyond the Limits" presents a warning and a choice: a rapid and uncontrolled decline in food production, industrial capacity, population and life expectancy, or a sustainable future. By using their system dynamics computer model as a unique tool to project the future, and by varying the basic policy assumptions, the authors are able to show a range of possible outcomes. Among them, they show that a sustainable society is technically and economically feasible, but only if growth in material consumption and population are eased down and there is a rapid and drastic increase in the efficiency of our use of materials and energy. To make the transition, the authors argue that humanity will have to balance long and short term goals with much greater care, enhancing equity and the quality of life.