About the Statement
Our planet earth happens to have limits, however this trivial observation appears to be difficult to understand and to accept by industrial societies. Almost forty years ago the report The Limits to Growth (1972) was published.
Since its appearance the understanding and knowledge about the earth system has increased tremendously. Today a description in terms of Limits to Waste or Sinks would be more appropriate. The depletion of forests, oceans and other natural resources, the nearby or already reached peak-oil are now accepted by political and business leaders as well as by scientists and civil society groups.
The Global Warming and Climate Change have gained the highest priority of the world political agenda and the public opinion is increasingly sensitive about it. Indeed the sink for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere appears to be to small, the melting of the glaciers in the arctic, Greenland and mountains threatens the biotope of the river basins and consequently the food production. Massive production of bio-fuels threats to aggravation of the food scarcity.
The concept of the ecological footprint has been introduced, expressing the voracity of natural resources by our industrial societies. Humankind will have to reduce its footprint and come back to an 'equilibrium' state, meaning that the earth's carrying capacity is not overridden by industrial activities.
Limiting the footprint of industrial societies and its economies means that de-growth in material use and economic activity have to take place. De-growth has to be considered seriously and the illusion that poverty will be solved through continuous economic growth has to be abandoned. It means that the present market-driven throwaway economy has to be replaced by another economic system. A new system has to be designed, which integrates explicitly our planetary ecosystem. The challenge is enormous, some authors speak about a challenge of survival of our civilization.
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