Formanyenvironmentalists,theworldseemstobegettingworse.Theyhavedevelopedahitlistofourmainfears:naturalresourcesare1out?thepopulationisevergrowing,leavinglessandlesstoeat?speciesarebecoming2invastnumbers,andtheplanet'sairandwaterarebecomingevermorepolluted.
Butaquicklookatthefactsshowsadifferentpicture.First,energyandothernaturalresourceshavebecomemore3notlessso,sincethebook'TheLimitstoGrowth'waspublishedin1972byagroupofscientists.Second,morefoodisnowproducedper4oftheworld'spopulationthanatanytimeinhistory.Fewerpeopleare5.Third,althoughspeciesareindeedbecomingextinct,onlyabout0.7%ofthemareexpectedtodisappearinthenext50years,not25~50%,ashassooftenbeen6.Andfinally,mostformsofenvironmentalpollutioneitherappeartohavebeen7,oraretransient-associatedwiththeearlystagesofindustrializationandthereforebestcurednotbyrestrictingeconomicgrowth,butby8it.Oneformofpollution-thereleaseofgreenhousegasesthatcausesglobalwarming-doesappeartobeaphenomenonthatisgoingtoextendwellintoourfuture,butitstotalimpactisunlikelyto9adevastating(令人心神不安的)problem.Abiggerproblemmaywellturnouttobeaninappropriateresponsetoit.
