THEMES OF SCARCITY

摘要

We are today, according to the UK government's chief scientist John Beddington, facing a 'perfect storm of social, political, economic and ecological dimensions. The full extent and severity of our current conditions is yet to be determined, but one thing seems certain: our foreseeable futures will not be like our recent pasts. Leading analysts of all the major resource domains - water, food, material resources and energy - tell us that our global industrial and financial models, based largely on the assumption of endless growth, are taking human societies to the brink of a series of chronic shortages and insecurities.