Limits to Growth & Our Common Future

Sustainable development has become well recognised concept since the publications of “Limits to Growth” and “Our Common Future”. The link between environment and development was institutionalised and the term “Sustainable Development” was popularised and brought firmly onto the international agenda in 1987 in the report Our Common Future. (Cox, 2008, 237). Publication of the report “Our Common Future” initiated and supported to lay foundation for Sustainable Development and Environmental Economics. The report highlighted serious “environmental concerns” mainly related to developing countries and the global environment. (Resources for the Future, 2011, pg, 1)

Limits to Growth report focused on ecological limits and economic growth. The Limits to Growth developed a neo-Malthusian model which assumed that growth in “population and industrial capital” would lead to increase in demand for basic food items and scarce resources which were assumed to be absolutely finite. Limits to Growth have highlighted the issues that world will be facing over the next century on the population explosion, overshooting non-renewable resources and collapsing of the world economy and growth. The report focuses on exceeding limits, overshooting and collapsing.

Limits to Growth report argued on the complexities of the social and environmental issues covering poverty, urbanisation, environmental degradation, unemployment, education, other economic problems and (Meadows et al, 1972, 10) emphasised overshooting world’s resources and by-products of resources such as waste and pollutions are thrown into planet without understanding the capacity of the planet to absorb. The report highlighted “ecological limits” to “physical scale of economic activity”, economic welfare to be derived from the growth of economic activity and social limits to economic growth.

Limits to Growth world model was purposefully built to study “five major trends of global concern – accelerating industrialisation, rapid population growth, widespread malnutrition, depletion of non-renewable resources, and a deteriorating environment.” The model forecasted the changes to the world until 2100 and explained how population growth and the use of natural resources are linked together and why there should be a limit to growth.  The model of exponential growth suggests that the growth has costs and benefits, Not only population growth, but economic growth, the model does not count social and environmental degradation cost but suggests a “slower growth”, “no growth or negative growth” (The Sustainability Institute, 1999, pg, 1) Publication of this report created many debates since then and the follow up events by UN which created awareness of challenges that the world will be facing if it continued to prosper at this speed while consuming the same amount of non-renewable resources and producing ever increasing population.

Our Common Future was greatly supported by the international community; the definition of sustainable development introduced by Brundtland meant “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The report provided comprehensive guide to sustainability, which included social, economic, political-institutional and environmental issues. Our Common Future initiated request to adopt policies focusing sustainable development to all the Governments. The concept suggest to have limits - not absolute limits and manage present state of technology and social enterprises in such a way so they can create a path towards sustainable future based on the current environmental issues (Dresner, 2008, pg, 35). Many Countries/Cultures/Organisations have recognised the need for sustainable development over the period of time.

Our Common Future, the report emphasised about economic and social development through the term “Sustainable Development”. The report “Our Common Future compared to Limits to Growth made it very clear that Growth is necessary and can be achieved but requires policy adjustment. Compare to Limits to Growth, Sustainable development is seen as new economic evolution by the commission (Institute for Humanities Research, 1987, pg 1). Brundtland Commissions sees the link between development and environment as interdependent and complementary (Auty and Brown, 1997, Page, 11) and inseparable, not only is it possible to have development without environmental degradation, but development is a necessary pre cursor to environmental sustainability. The approach taken by the report clearly underlines the relationship between poverty, food security, industry, energy, resource depletion, peace, security, development and environment. The report states “Growth is absolutely necessary to overcome mass poverty” (WCED, 1987) is a holistic approach of sustainable development. 

The environmental threat has now been accepted worldwide by policy makers and academics compared to 1972 and 1987 at the time of Limits to Growth and Our Common Future. There has been great emphasis throughout the world on the idea and approaches to the concept of sustainable development. The last 3 decades has witnessed a fundamental change in the Government and Business thinking about environment and development. At the 20^th anniversary of Limits to Growth, the team published updated book called “Beyond the Limits” with the evidence of their world3 scenarios predictions. The evidence claimed that humanity was moving deeper into unsustainable territory. (The Sustainability Institute, 2004, pg. 4). Club of Rome also published 30yr update, where they have produced a more comprehensive updates to original report and concluded that “humanity is dangerously in a state of overshoot”. (The Sustainability Institute, 2004, pg. 5). Limits to Growth an experts conclusion was fearless, if not presumptuous, development of a “formal, written model of the world” (Stefanovic, 2000, pg. 17) in contrast the Brundtland Report, which avoided the pretensions of “expert predictions,” seeking instead to “serve notice” of the need to for change and to suggest “a pathway by the people of the world may enlarge their spheres of co-operation.” (Stefanovic, 2000, pg. 18) Limits to Growth & Our Common Future will always be remembered in the history of the concept of “Sustainable development” through the findings, analysis and recommendations for the world to drive towards sustainability.

1. Arizona State University, Institute for Humanities research, 1987 (http://leopold.asu.edu/sustainability/sites/default/files/Warren,%20World%20Commission,%20Brundtland.pdf).

2.      Auty R. M and K Brown, 1997, Approaches to Sustainable Development, A Cassell Imprint, London, Page-11, par. 3

3.      Boyd, D. 2011, Approaches to Sustainable Development Reader, Learning Materials, School of Social Science and Humanities.

4.      Club of Rome (Resource), 2010

http://connect.clubofrome.org/ecms/files/resources/What_was_the_message_of_Limits_to_Growth.pdf 

5.      World Commission on Environment And Development,  1987, http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-02.htm 

6.      Meadows, D, Randers, J, Meadows, D, A Synopsis of Limits to Growth – 30yr update, The Sustainability Institute, 2004, pg. 3 - 25, (http://www.sustainer.org/pubs/limitstogrowth.pdf

7.      Resources for the future, 2002, pg. 1, par. 2, http://www.rff.org/documents/RFF-DP-02-03.pdf.

8.      Stefanovic, I. L, 2000, Safeguarding our common future: rethinking sustainable development, State University of New York Press, Albany, pg. 18