Reducing consumption is essential for environmental and economic sustainability.

Examining the limits to growth

The Limits to Growth, published in 1972, was a landmark publication when first released, one of the first studies to link the world economy with the state of the environment. In this podcast, Dr Graham Turner talks about his recent study that validates one of the book’s key scenarios. (7:30)

• 11 November 2008 | Updated 24 November 2011

The book ‘The Limits to Growth’, grew from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study commissioned by world think-tank The Club of Rome to model scenarios for the future global economy and environment and recommend far reaching changes to the way we live to avoid disaster.

The Limits to Growth became the best selling environmental book in history, selling more than 30 million copies in 30 languages.

A new study from the CSIRO examines the then ground-breaking modelling used for the book, which forecasts a global ecological and economic collapse coming up in the middle of the 21st Century, and finds the forecasts to be on-track.

In this podcast, CSIRO researcher Dr Graham Turner talks about his recent report, ‘A comparison of The Limits to Growth with 30 years of reality’.

In his study, he finds that 35 years after its publication, Limits to Growth remains relevant to a number of our contemporary issues of peak oil, climate change, and food and water security, all of which resonate strongly with the overshoot and collapse displayed in the book’s ‘business-as-usual scenario’.

Read more about Reducing consumption key to a sustainable future (Media release 11 Nov 08).