4 ms·

Found it to be very superficial and "read the science" button provides very limited information. Can anyone recommend a better resource on the subject?

• dredmorbius 7y ago
  Catton, Overshoot: https://www.worldcat.org/title/overshoot/oclc/16587666&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/overshoot/oclc/16587666&refer... Meadows et al, Limits to Growth: https://www.worldcat.org/title/limits-to-growth/oclc/816590435&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/limits-to-growth/oclc/8165904... Online: http://www.donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Limits-to-Growth-digital-scan-version.pdf http://www.donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Limits-to... 30 year update: https://www.worldcat.org/title/limits-to-growth-the-30-year-update/oclc/780854826?referer=br&ht=edition https://www.worldcat.org/title/limits-to-growth-the-30-year-... Joel E. Cohen, Carrying Capacity: Article: https://www.worldcat.org/title/population-economics-environment-and-culture-an-introduction-to-human-carrying-capacity/oclc/7025335639&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/population-economics-environm... Book: How many people can the earth support? https://www.worldcat.org/title/how-many-people-can-the-earth-support/oclc/898942239&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/how-many-people-can-the-earth... Ophuls, Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity: https://www.worldcat.org/title/ecology-and-the-politics-of-scarcity-revisited-the-unraveling-of-the-american-dream/oclc/872523631&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/ecology-and-the-politics-of-s... Ophul's bibliographies are excellent, one online: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/6fgq8g/william_ophuls_bibliographic_note_sources_on/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/6fgq8g/william... Smil, Energy and Civilization: https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-and-civilization-a-history/oclc/1029804020&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-and-civilization-a-his... Weissenbacher, Sources of Power (2 vols): https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-forges-human-history/oclc/416715097&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-f...
  • gimzi 7y ago
    Thanks!
    • dredmorbius 7y ago
      My pleasure. The set tends toward the pessimistic side, but I find that more credible. Ophul's earlier bibliography (Ecology & the Politics of Scarcity) includes numerous works on both sides of the limits question, including Khan and Simon, John Maddox (The Doomsday Syndrome: https://www.worldcat.org/title/doomsday-syndrome/oclc/959523903&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/doomsday-syndrome/oclc/959523...), and others, all confirmed cornucopians. There's a literature from the 1950s - 1960s that I find particularly interesting. It's from a period before the question became hugely politicised (as it did with Limits to Growth), and when you could find quite sober explorations from both the side of growth and limits. One of the more interesting of these is by Charles Galton Darwin, grandson of Charles Darwin, and with a ludicrously impressive resume. Truth is that human population was exploding in the period after WWII, and concerns were widespread. At least some of the lessening of concern since then can be directly attributed to the awareness-raising. Ophuls was exploring the question itself in his first book, and I think makes the case better and clearer than just about anyone over the case of limits. The fundamental idea being not that there is some specific limit and threshold that can be specified precisely, but that limits exist, and with exponential growth (constant percentage growth), those are met very quickly. His read of the likely future trajectories of various countries and world regions -- the US, USSR, Europe, China, India, Africa, and South America, has proved quite accurate IMO. China most especially. Ophuls is a political theorist, and captured the political dynamics well. The histories of the world through the lens of energy -- Smil and Weissenbacher's books -- are most interesting to me. Weissenbacher is distinctly political, Smil far less so. His "just the facts" approach may be a snoozer for some, but I found it makes the point all the more impressively through its lack of exaggeration or emotion. I still need to look at Cohen in depth, but am given to believe he's among the most credible demographers looking at the carrying capacity question.