Sustainable Development and the Limitation of Growth: Future Prospects for World Civilization

Description

It is over 15 years since Agenda 21 was adopted in Rio de Janeiro, and over 100 countries have now espoused this code to use sustainable development as a means of avoiding an ecological catastrophe. However it is obvious that, even with this commitment, there is still a significant lack of both understanding and action. Sustainable Development and the Limitation of Growth presents the ecological, demographic, economic and socio-psychological manifestations of the global crisis, and outlines the immutable laws and limitations which determine the existence of all living things in the biosphere. The book contends that sustainability is achievable only on a global scale and cannot be regionalized or isolated;demonstrates the need to move to a new way of thinking;shows humanity its real place in the natural environment;highlights the importance of global environmental stability. This unique work argues for a change in the sustainable development paradigm, the strategic nucleus of which must be the conservation of ecosystems, especially forests, still in existence and the partial reconstruction of destroyed ecosystems, as well as for an understanding of humanity’s real place in the natural environment and the gravity of the ecological threat before us. 1