Is There a Process to Preserve Earth Long Term?

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Sandy: We are all oriented towards the future, but it's hard for us to have an intimate connection with the far future. She says we need a process to make decisions that lead you to an outcome you're going to like. sandy: I'd like to know how much smaller is the carrying capacity for an interesting civilization over millions of years.

Of all the scenarios that keep astrophysicist Sandra Faber up at night, it's not the Earth's increasing volcanism, the loss of photosynthesis, or even the impact of a massive asteroid. Rather, it's the collapse she's certain will result from the unbridled growth of the world's economies. Join Faber and EconTalk host Russ Roberts as they explore what the most inexorable law of physics has to do with economics and whether the world's growing economies pose a problem or provide the solution for the finiteness of planet Earth.