Publication of The Limits to Growth

The Limits to Growth captured the world’s attention with its thesis that unchanged population growth and resource consumption would dramatically worsen the conditions for humanity within forty to fifty years. The computer-modeled study was published in 1972 by Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William Behrens. It was commissioned by the Club of Rome, a private think tank founded in 1968 focusing on future global scenarios and aiming to stir public debate and influence policy makers. The report marked the beginning of the scientific discussion around “sustainable development.” In 1992 and 2004 some of the original authors have issued reports about the “new limits to growth” based on contemporary data.