Beyond the limits : global collapse or a sustainable future / Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers.
By: Meadows, Donella H
.
Contributor(s): Meadows, Dennis L | Randers, Jørgen.
Material type: 
BookPublisher: London : Earthscan Publications, 1992Description: xix, 300 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.ISBN: 1853831301.Subject(s): Economic development -- Environmental aspects | Population -- Economic aspects | Pollution -- Economic aspects | Sustainable developmentDDC classification: 333.72 | Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Lending | MTU Bishopstown Library Lending | 333.72 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 00051704 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Beyond the Limits presents a warning and a choice: a rapid and uncontrolled decline in food production, industrial capacity, population and life expectancy, or a sustainable future. By using their system dynamics computer model as a unique tool to project the future, and by varying the basic policy assumptions, the authors are able to show a range of possible outcomes.
Bibliography: (pages 267-274) and index.
Overshoot -- The driving force: exponential growth -- The limits: sources and sinks -- The dynamics of growth in a finite world -- Back from beyond the limits: The ozone story -- Technology, markets and overshoot -- Transitions to a sustainable system -- Overshoot but not collapse.
Author notes provided by Syndetics
Trained as a biophysicist, American scientist Donella H. Meadows earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Early in her career, Meadows was a member of a joint Harvard-MIT research group that developed a computer simulation model clarifying relationships between growth and finite resources on the earth. Using this model, the Club of Rome sponsored extensive research that resulted in the best-selling book, "The Limits to Growth" (1972), co-authored by Meadows and others. Attention was focused on a doomsday prognosis if growth continued unchecked. Meadows and her associates, however, presented options for achieving a sustainable society if there were a movement away from dependence on growth, equity in wealth, and if technologies were used to enhance efficiency of natural-resource use. "Toward Global Equilibrium" (1973) and "Dynamics of Growth in a Finite World" (1974) are companion technical volumes to "The Limits to Growth." They present reports on the simulation models, examinations of economic, political, and ethical implications of the findings, and a detailed description of the computer model, World3.
In addition to her research sponsored by the Club of Rome, Meadows, as one of the editors of "Groping in the Dark" (1982), fully articulates that basic human needs can be met in the future if social and political structures, as well as values, do not hinder efforts for sustainability and equity. Meadows states that equity, rather than individual and national-wealth aggrandizement, is increasingly recognized as a major factor in planetary survival. Twenty years after "The Limits to Growth," Meadows and others in "Beyond the Limits" (1992) find that some options for a sustainable future have narrowed. However, they claim that new technologies can, if employed wisely, contribute to sustainability. The book emphasizes social-policy options rather than models.
After working for two years on the Club of Rome research project, Meadows became a member of the faculty at Dartmouth College where she was systems analyst and adjunct professor in the Environmental Studies Program. Meadows has a lifestyle that reflects her views about sustaining finite resources and valuing equity rather than personal economic gain. She has lived in a commune, studied Zen Buddhism, and believed that people today are ultimately responsible for a future that holds "unspeakable horrors or undreamed-of wonders." She died in 2001 from a bacterial infection.
Her titles include Limits to Growth-The 30 year Update, The Electronic Oracle: Computer Models and Social Decisions and Thinking in Systems - A Primer.
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