ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1 it was noted that sustainability depends on the availability of energy and materials that are constantly replenished and inexhaustible. Such a utopian goal collides with the reality of the demands that each person places on resources and energy and increasing numbers of people. As noted in Chapter 1, one of the strongest warnings of the problems of increasing population and the demands it places on resources was posted by Paul Ehrlich, the Stanford University biologist who wrote the 1968 book, The Population Bomb.1 Ehrlich predicted a grim future as resources and energy were exhausted and populations crashed from starvation. A rebuttal was posted in several works including Hoodwinking the Nation2 by University of Maryland economist Julian Simon. He ridiculed Ehrlich’s pessimistic outlook, placing his faith in free market economics and human ingenuity. Simon said these would always nd a way to overcome shortages and that there was no need to worry about running out of materials, food, and energy.
