Rethinking Growth: The Limits to Sustainability

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This chapter explores the cultural and economic shifts among younger generations favoring alternative lifestyles, aiming for a more equitable society. It emphasizes the findings of the MIT team presented to the Club of Rome in 1971, which warned against the belief in endless growth and highlighted the urgent need for policy reform. The chapter also details the pivotal work of Dana Meadows in promoting systems thinking and sustainability amidst significant backlash.

In 1972, a team of young scientists at MIT published a study exploring what would happen to human civilization if people kept pursuing endless economic growth on a finite planet. They weren’t just disbelieved, they were ridiculed. The story of Donella Meadows and The Limits to Growth.

Reported and produced by Katy Shields and Vegard Beyer, with co-hosts John Biewen and Ellen McGirt. Story editor: Loretta Williams. Archival audio of Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Aurelio Peccei, Jay Forrester, and others. Interviewee: John Fullerton.Original music by Nora Beyer. Additional music by Michelle Osis and Lili Haydn. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. "Capitalism” is a production of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, in partnership with Imperative 21.