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Press Release
Beyond the Limits to Growth: A Deeper Look at Looming Social and Economic Realities
Richard Heinberg 2010-08-11
For Release 3 August 2010
Tod Brilliant
POST CARBON INSTITUTE
707-823-8700 x105
Beyond the Limits to Growth: A Deeper Look at Looming Social and Economic Realities
Santa Rosa, CA (3. August 2010) During the past few decades, growth has become virtually the sole index of economic well-being. But at some point, humanity’s ever-increasing resource consumption will inevitably meet the very real limits of a finite planet.
The 36 co-authors of The Post Carbon Reader(Watershed Media/UC Press – October 2010) believe that this time has arrived.
The past two centuries have seen an explosion in population, consumption, and technological innovation brought previously unimaginable advances in health, wealth, transport, and communications. This metaphorical explosion was brought about through the very literal combustion of billions of tons of ancient fossil fuels.
As those fuels deplete, the authors call upon global leaders to face the need to accomplish four enormous tasks simultaneously:
1. Rapidly reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
2. Adapt to the end of economic growth.
3. Design and provide a sustainable way of life for 7 billion people.
4. Deal with the environmental consequences of the past 100 years of fossil-fueled growth.
Alternative energy sources are critical, but the post-carbon transition will not be limited merely to building wind turbines or weatherizing homes. It must entail the thorough redesign of our entire societal infrastructure, which today is utterly dependent on cheap fossil fuels.
Just as the fossil-fuel economy of today systemically and comprehensively differs from the agrarian economy of 1800, the post-fossil-fuel economy of 2050 will profoundly differ from all that we are familiar with now. This difference will be reflected in urban design, land-use patterns, food systems, manufacturing output, distribution networks, the job market, transportation systems, health care, tourism and more. It will also require a fundamental rethinking of our financial institutions and cultural values.
In the introductory chapter The Post Carbon Reader, “Beyond the Limits to Growth” (click for free PDF) Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg lays out the difficult but ultimately surmountable challenges related to this fundamental rethinking.
“With shared purpose and a clear understanding of both the challenges and the solutions, we can manage the transition to a sustainable, equitable world,” writes Heinberg. “Though the urgency of the need to fully and immediately engage with the transition process at all levels of society can hardly be overstated.”
The Post Carbon Reader features essays by some of the world’s most provocative thinkers on the key issues shaping our new century, from renewable energy and urban agriculture to social justice and community resilience. The collection takes a hard-nosed look at the interconnected threads of our global sustainability quandary and presents some of the most promising responses. The reader is not so much a book as it is a roadmap to a resilient, bountiful future.
In addition to Richard Heinberg, The Post Carbon Reader features the works of Wes Jackson, Bill McKibben, Erika Allen, Gloria Flora, Sandra Postel, Nancy Lee Wood, Zenobia Barlow, Daniel Lerch, Rob Hopkins, Stephanie Mills, David Orr, Michael Shuman, Peter Whybrow, William Rees, Tom Whipple, Richard Douthwaite, Chris Martenson, Bill Ryerson, Warren Karlenzig, John Kaufmann, Hillary Brown, David Fridley, Richard Gilbert, Anthony Perl, Cindy Parker, Brian Schwartz, Bill Sheehan, Helen Spiegelman, Joshua Farley, Michael Stone, Deborah & Frank Popper, Michael Bomford, David Hughes and Asher Miller.
ABOUT POST CARBON INSTITUTE
Post Carbon Institute provides individuals, communities, businesses, and governments with the resources needed to understand and respond to the interrelated economic, energy, and environmental crises that define the 21st century. PCI envisions a world of resilient communities and re-localized economies that thrive within ecological bounds.
In addition to Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg, PCI Fellows include Bill McKibben, Majora Carter, Wes Jackson, David Orr and 24 others. Full list of PCI Fellows.
POST CARBON INSTITUTE
Tel: +1.707.823.8700 • Fax: +1.866.797.5820
http://www.postcarbon.org • media@postcarbon.org
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