Why Limits to Growth's forecasts are still relevant today | James Dyke

The 1970s study which predicted civilisation would collapse some time this century was wrong on resources, but right on pollution

Forty-four years ago, the size of the global economy was 20tn in today's prices. In 2014 it was 55.18tn. It's certainly been a rocky road at times, but the trend of economic growth has been robust. Only four years over this period have shown a contraction of economic output.

Consequently, one should feel foolish for suggesting that there are not only limits to growth, but that such limits are already affecting the global economy. That's one evaluation of the book Limits to Growth, which was published in 1972 and contained the central, controversial conclusion that the seemingly never-ending increase in population, industrial output, food production, and resource use would rapidly unravel at some point around the middle of the 21st century.