ABSTRACT
The dimension of global environmental impacts caused by human activities mainly depends on the amount of material turnover. A definite decrease in current total resource consumption (of material, energy and land) therefore is a prerequisite for ecologically sustainable development. Instruments of material flow analyses can be applied for planning and monitoring adequate improvement measures on a national and corporate level. In most cases it is not possible to determine the effects single substances and the immense turnovers have on ecosystems. Neither the destruction of the ozone layer nor the causes of the extinction of biodiversity have so far been predictable. Nor is it possible to determine timescales for potential cause-effect mechanisms. It is completely unclear at what point specific substances and materials develop damaging effects, on their own or in combination with other emissions: now, or much later? Is it at once, in one year, in five or in twenty to a hundred years, when we can expect certain risks to occur? As long as consequences and effects cannot be sufficiently determined, it would seem sensible to take precautions to avoid them (Factor 10 Club 1997-2000).
