MY REVIEW OF "THE LIMITS TO GROWTH

The book - written almost 50 years ago - Limits to Growth (Donella H. Meadows et al), is a documentation of a research into how human activity is exponentially growing at a rate much faster than the Earth's carrying capacity. This means that the Earth's resources would be depleted if the rate of growth remains unchanged.

Though the thesis is claimed to be built only on material and physical realities, after I finished reading I was struck by the glaring missing link which is the moral/ethical angle.

As a Muslim I am 'unabashedly' a 'moralist' and I found myself appreciating the aptness of the following verse while reading the conclusions of the book Limits to Growth:

"Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]."

Holy Quran Chapter 30 The Romans (Suratul Rum) Verse 41.

It is evident that the current crises that is rocking the world from strife to instability, climate change and proliferation of chaos, all are consequences of the 'rape' that the worldhas been subjected to with greed and insatiable quest for self-aggrandizement determining the policies being implemented throughout the world.

Thus we are hurtling towards Armaggedon and there does not seem to be any will in applying the brakes. As I stated earlier, almost 50 years on very little has been done to arrest the precarious situation.

Though I agree with the fundamental thrust of the book, I do not agree that the resources of the Earth are not going to be enough for the populace being produced. Rather, it is the unbridled and profligate consumption patterns that are creating a scenario of scarcity.

World resources and in essence the the world's carrying capacity will only be 'limited' in a world ruled by 'unlimited' and wasteful consumption. There is data to prove that the existing 'exploited' and unexploited resources are sufficient for the whole humans that are alive and will continue to be born if the RIGHT MINDSET is applied in tackling this problem. The author's said as much:

"The way to proceed is clear, and the necessary steps, although they are new ones for human society, are well within human capabilities. Man possesses, for a small moment in his history, the most powerful combination of knowledge, tools, and resources the world has ever known. He has all that is physically necessary to create a totally new form of human society-one that would be built to last for generations. The two missing ingredients are a realistic, long-term goal that can guide mankind to the equilibrium society and the human will to achieve that goal. Without such a goal and a commitment to it, short-term concerns will generate the exponential growth that drives the world system toward the limits of the earth and ultimate collapse. With that goal and that commitment, man-kind would be ready now to begin a controlled, orderly transi-tion from growth to global equilibrium." Page184.

Haidarwali 201702160731hrs.