Limits to Growth
Historical Background
In April 1968, scientists, economists, educators and other individual professionals discussed “the present and future predicament of man” in the meeting organized by the Giovanni Agnelli Foundation and the National Academy of Lincei. As an outcome of the meeting an international organization named “The Club of Rome” was established.
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The Club of Rome was incorporated on March 1970 in Geneva as a non-profit private association under the Swiss Civil Code [4]. The Club of Rome is an informal organization aimed to stimulate understanding and share knowledge on economic, politic, natural and social components of the real live, as well as, attract attention of policy makers and public globally [3].
A series of early meetings of The Club of Rome culminated in the decision to initiate a remarkably ambitious undertaking -the Project on the Predicament of Mankind. The intent of the project is to examine the complex of problems troubling men of all nations: poverty in the midst of plenty; degradation of the environment; loss of faith in institutions; uncontrolled urban spread; insecurity of employment; alienation of youth; rejection of traditional values; and inflation and other monetary and economic disruptions [1, p.12].
The Limits to Growth, which concludes the main features and findings of the project, was published by Potomac Associates, The Club of Rome and MIT research team. Group of professionals from several countries participated in the research work. Different possible scenarios showing different outcomes of future development (from 1900 to 2100) of world was researched and introduced in the book. System dynamics theory and WORLD 3 computer model was used in the research project.
In 1992, on the 20th anniversary of the publication of Limits to Growth, the team updated Limits in a book called Beyond the Limits. Ten years later in a new study, Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update, the authors have produced a comprehensive update to the original Limits, in which they came to conclusion that mankind is dangerously in a state of overshoot [2, p.4].
PROBLEMS & MODELS
References
[1]Meadows, D.H., Meadows, D.L., Randers, J. & Behrens, W.W. (1972). The Limits to Growth: A report for the Club of Rome's project on the predicament of mankind, New York: Universe Books. [2]Meadows, D., Randers, J. & Meadows, D.L. (2004). A Synopsis Limits to Growth: The 30-year Update, White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing Company. [3]The Club of Rome, https://www.clubofrome.org/ [4]The Club of Rome. (1970). The Predicament of Mankind: Quest for Structured Responses to Growing World-wide Complexities and Uncertainties. Proposal.
