ABSTRACT

The factors responsible for growth in population and industry involvemany long-term trends that reinforce and conflict with each other. Birth rates are coming down faster than expected, but the population is still rising. Many people are getting richer; they are demanding more industrial products. But they also want less pollution. The flows of energy and materials required to sustain industrial growth are depleting nonrenewable resource stocks and deteriorating renewable resources. But there is steady progress in developing technologies that discover new reserves and use materials more efficiently. Every society confronts a shortage in capital; investments are needed to find more resources, produce more energy, clean up pollution, improve schools, health care, and other social services. But those investments must compete with an ever growing demand for more consumer goods.