Will the world be able to sustain economic
growth indefinitely without running into resource
constraints or despoiling the environment beyond
repair? What is the relationship between a steady
increase in incomes and environmental quality? Are
there trade-offs between the goals of achieving high
and sustainable rates of economic growth and attaining
high standards of environmental quality? For some
social and physical scientists such as GeorgescuRoegen55
and Meadows et al.,56 growing economic
activity (production and consumption) requires larger
inputs of energy and material, and generates larger
quantities of waste by-products. Increased extraction
of natural resources, accumulation of waste and
concentration of pollutants will therefore overwhelm
the carrying capacity of the biosphere and result in the
degradation of environmental quality and a decline in
human welfare, despite rising incomes.57 Furthermore,
it is argued that degradation of the resource base will
eventually put economic activity itself at risk. To save
the environment and even economic activity from
itself, economic growth must cease and the world must
make a transition to a steady-state economy.