Op-Ed...Unchecked Growth Path to Poverty

by Bill Ryerson

   Endless growth is not possible because of constraints of renewable resources like fresh water, clean air and biodiversity.

   Also, much of our industrial system depends on non-renewable resources like oil and various metals and inerals, which are being dedpleted and becoming more expensive over time.

   Using the concept fo the "ecological footprint," or the area of land required to support an individual for all of his or her activities, from food and fiber to waste treatment to support for energy systems, etc., the Global Footprint Network has estimated that because of population growth, humans globally consume 50% more resources each year than can be sustained by natural systems.

   This means we are eating into the natural capital that makes the planet habitable.

   Climate change is just one measure of the "overshoot."  Maintaining an appropriate natural resource foundation for human activities, both now and in the future, is critical for the future well-being of our descendants.

   The depletion of fresh water is an important example.  Like China and India, the American southwest is losing farmland because of overpumping of underground aquifiers for irrigation.

    As the water table sinks, more and more land is turning into desert.  In India, about 150 illion people are being kept alive through unsustainable overpumping.

    Human population numbers and economic activity must stop growing.  Our goal should be sustainability, not endless growth.

   This means working to achieve a population size that can live comfortably within the carrying capacity of renewable resources.

    Continued depletion of natural resurces will drive the entire worls' population into poverty and deprivation.


   See http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/01/16/when-growth-is-not-a-good-goal/unchecked-growth-is-a-path-to-poverty