Introduction

The debate on the physical limits and constraints to the economic growth (and to the ways of development) of our globalized society is today quite widespread. Traditionally in economics the term growth means a quantitative increment in production without particularly significant qualitative change, which instead characterize development, but among a large number of economists nowadays the distinction seems to have somehow faded. This does not just amount to a lack of terminological accuracy; the distinction is indeed crucial for all discussions on sustainability and physical limits to growth. This chapter discusses the material resources depletion and its dynamics, the global climate change and the dynamics of a growing complexity system. It also discusses possible viable economic strategies to face the physical constraints preventing the persistently invoked "growth", and the limits of mainstream economics in facing sustainability and unsustainability, considered via the "building blocks" it is built on. The chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.