The Limits to Growth Revisited

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Springer Science & Business Media, 27 mag 2011 - 119 pagine

“The Limits to Growth” (Meadows, 1972) generated unprecedented controversy with its predictions of the eventual collapse of the world's economies. First hailed as a great advance in science, “The Limits to Growth” was subsequently rejected and demonized. However, with many national economies now at risk and global peak oil apparently a reality, the methods, scenarios, and predictions of “The Limits to Growth” are in great need of reappraisal. In The Limits to Growth Revisited, Ugo Bardi examines both the science and the polemics surrounding this work, and in particular the reactions of economists that marginalized its methods and conclusions for more than 30 years. “The Limits to Growth” was a milestone in attempts to model the future of our society, and it is vital today for both scientists and policy makers to understand its scientific basis, current relevance, and the social and political mechanisms that led to its rejection. Bardi also addresses the all-important question of whether the methods and approaches of “The Limits to Growth” can contribute to an understanding of what happened to the global economy in the Great Recession and where we are headed from there.

 

Sommario

Introduction
2
The Story of The Limits to Growth
5
Of Models and Simulations
15
System Dynamics Modeling
23
Modeling the Real World Whaling in Nineteenth Century
31
World Modeling by System Dynamics
37
Criticism to The Limits to Growth
49
Mineral Resources as Limits to Growth
63
Technological Progress and Limits to Growth
75
The Political Debate
85
The Return of World Modeling
95
Conclusion The Challenges Ahead
101
About the Author
105
References
107
Index
117
Copyright

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Informazioni sull'autore (2011)

Ugo Bardi is a member of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Florence, where he teaches physical chemistry. His research interests include mineral resources, renewable energy, and system dynamics applied to economics. He is a member of the Club of Rome, of the scientific committee of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO), and Climalteranti, a group active in climate science. He is also founder and former president of the Italian chapter of ASPO and chief editor of Frontiers in Energy Systems and Policy. His articles have appeared on The Oil Drum, Resilience (formerly The Energy Bulletin, Financial Sense, and Cassandra's Legacy. His previous books include The Limits to Growth Revisited.

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