General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030
A new study from researchers at Jay W. Forrester's institute at MIT says that the world could suffer from "global economic collapse" and "precipitous population decline" if people continue to consume the world's resources at the current pace.
Smithsonian Magazine writes that Australian physicist Graham Turner says "the world is on track for disaster" and that current evidence coincides with a famous, and in some quarters, infamous, academic report from 1972 entitled, "The Limits to Growth."
Produced for a group called The Club of Rome, the study's researchers created a computing model to forecast different scenarios based on the current models of population growth and global resource consumption. The study also took into account different levels of agricultural productivity, birth control and environmental protection efforts. Twelve million copies of the report were produced and distributed in 37 different languages.
Most of the computer scenarios found population and economic growth continuing at a steady rate until about 2030. But without "drastic measures for environmental protection," the scenarios predict the likelihood of a population and economic crash.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/next-great-depression-mit-researchers-predict-global-economic-190352944.html
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Its inevitable if we continue to consume the worlds resources at the current unsustainable rate. There is no doubt about it. Our only hope to figure out a way to progress and prosper without such enormous consumption.
Ian David
(69,059 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)And, you thought al-Qaeda was scary.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Embroiled in a severe crisis...
DCBob
(24,689 posts)Unfortunate but true.
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)I'm seriously starting to think that is the only thing that will wake people up...
malaise
(269,118 posts)but we're glad to hear you'll collapse.
We don't expect to be around.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Most folks don't realize that the alternative to a total collapse is actually WORSE.
Even President Obama now understands that we're headed into an era of social Darwinism overseen by the power elite - which will result in an even BIGGER population crash.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Yummy, snd so very good for you!
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Bushes before they eat more . . .
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)That is, if I live for another 18 years. I am already 73. I would be 97 years old and I do not want to live that long.
GreatCaesarsGhost
(8,585 posts)d_r
(6,907 posts)as individuals we are tragically fragile. I agree with this prediction - if we continue the path we are on, there will be a great deal of suffering and loss of life.
But as a species, we will go on. Most of the human population through our history has not lived the way the industrialized population has lived the past couple of centuries. It is going to be a tough adjustment.
greytdemocrat
(3,299 posts)Some kids write a new vid game and suddenly it's TEOTW.
GliderGuider
(21,088 posts)We haven't deviated significantly from the "standard run" curves since LtG was published.