Meadows, D. (2004). Limits to growth: The 30-year update. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publising.

It’s great to see you post here! Hope you enjoy the blog.

Meadows touches on the issue of swinging the pendulum too far when he noted that sustainability is a foreign concept to our growth-obsessed culture, but also stated that, “We don’t think a sustainable society need be stagnant, boring, uniform, or rigid” (p. 11). I take this to mean that his version of sustainability isn’t equal to some form of environmental or social communism, but rather paints a picture of “a world that has the time, the resources, and the will to correct mistakes, to innovate, to preserve the fertility of its planetary ecosystems… on mindfully increasing the quality of life rather than on mindlessly expanding material consumption and the physical capital stock” (p. 12).

I agree that even a “pop” moderate view of sustainability does not go so far as to promote the developmental transformation that is advocated by authors such as Darrow Miller, and the inference of scarcity certainly does not align with boundless Divine creativity. But we must also take a hard look at the damage that is being done. Interestingly, even though globalization has swept across economic, social, and to some degree, political domains, the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” has widened, the air and water pollution from China alone has completely altered the ecosystem in the Asian world, and just taking into account the “de-greening” of Sudan would be enough to recognize a major problem.

Of course, I believe that transformational development and the “economy of the open heavens” is the answer, and this is why I believe being “proactive” is better than being “reactive.” We aren’t aiming for “lowest common denominator,” but rather creative solutions that allow everyone to experience the blessings of a “new heaven and new earth.”

Thanks Micah!

One thing that I am worried about is the rise of the belief in scarcity; the idea that the universe is not full of enough good things to satisfy all of our needs.

But my reading of the biblical concept is the opposite of scarcity: God’s universe holds literally infinite storehouses of good things for humanity, and it is our job to embrace them.

The consequences of scarcity theory are serious. It leads us to viewing the world in such a way that “if you have something, I do not”. And “if I want something, I must take it from you”.

We need a more wholesome way of looking at the world and the universe.

-micah

I look forward to sharing, it should be very good.