Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary ChangeOur day-to-day experiences over the past decade have taught us that there must be limits to our tremendous appetite for energy, natural resources, and consumer goods. Even utility and oil companies now promote conservation in the face of demands for dwindling energy reserves. And for years some biologists have warned us of the direct correlation between scarcity and population growth. These scientists see an appalling future riding the tidal wave of a worldwide growth of population and technology. A calm but unflinching realist, Catton suggests that we cannot stop this wave - for we have already overshot the Earth's capacity to support so huge a load. He contradicts those scientists, engineers, and technocrats who continue to write optimistically about energy alternatives. Catton asserts that the technological panaceas proposed by those who would harvest from the seas, harness the winds, and farm the deserts are ignoring the fundamental premise that "the principals of ecology apply to all living things." These principles tell us that, within a finite system, economic expansion is not irreversible and population growth cannot continue indefinitely. If we disregard these facts, our sagging American Dream will soon shatter completely. |
From inside the book
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... became more than brilliant exhibitions of engineering . They were voy- ages of the imagination , voyages which led us on a joy ride of extrava- gant expectations . It is easy to fix the exact date when our euphoria reached a ze- nith ...
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Contents
Our Need for a New Perspective | 3 |
Eventually Had Already Come Yesterday | 15 |
The Tragic Story of Human Success | 17 |
Dependence on Phantom Carrying Capacity | 36 |
Watershed Year Modes of Adaptation | 58 |
Siege and the Avoidance of Truth | 75 |
The End of Exuberance | 77 |
The Processes That Matter | 95 |
Industrialization Prelude to Collapse | 157 |
Resistance and Change | 181 |
Faith versus Fact | 183 |
Life under Pressure | 199 |
Living with the New Reality | 211 |
Backing into the Future | 213 |
Turning Around | 227 |
Facing the Future Wisely | 244 |