Overshoot

The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change

William R. Catton

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 1980
• Print ISBN:
  9780252009884
  9780252008184
• eBook ISBN:
  9780252098000
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Theory
• Index: Social Sciences

Our day-to-day experiences over the past decade have taught us that there must be limits to our tremendous appetite for energy, natural resources, and consumer goods. Even utility and oil companies now promote conservation in the face of demands for dwindling energy reserves. And for years some biologists have warned us of the direct correlation between scarcity and population growth. These scientists see an appalling future riding the tidal wave of a worldwide growth of population and technology.

A calm but unflinching realist, Catton suggests that we cannot stop this wave - for we have already overshot the Earth's capacity to support so huge a load. He contradicts those scientists, engineers, and technocrats who continue to write optimistically about energy alternatives. Catton asserts that the technological panaceas proposed by those who would harvest from the seas, harness the winds, and farm the deserts are ignoring the fundamental premise that "the principals of ecology apply to all living things." These principles tell us that, within a finite system, economic expansion is not irreversible and population growth cannot continue indefinitely. If we disregard these facts, our sagging American Dream will soon shatter completely.

Indexes

Name Index

Abelson, Philip H., 196

Ackerknecht, Erwin H., 34

Adler, Nathan, 73, 74

Allaby, Michael, 113, 195

Allan, William, 15

Allen, Michael Patrick, 241, 242

Andrus, Cecil, 232

Appelman, Philip, 140, 141

Armstrong, Neil, 150

Aronowitz, Stanley, 179

Ayres, Eugene, 55, 56

Bach, Wilfrid, 241, 242

Baden, John, 55, 56, 57

Baker, Howard, 229, 230, 241

Barash, David P., 242

Barron, J. C., 267

Baxter, Sir Philip, 223

Beck, William S., 114

Becker, Carl, 91

Bell, J. F., 269

Bennet, D. J., 196, 197

Benson, G. Randolph, 90, 91

Berkner, Lloyd V., 56

Bernard, Jessie, 13

Billington, Ray Allen, 56

Black, Max, 7, 13

Blaug, Mark, 140, 141

Boffey, Philip M., 196

Bolin, Bert, 113, 114

Borgstrom, Georg, 38, 41, 44, 45, 55, 56

Borrie, W D., 34

Boughey, Arthur S., 15, 18, 33, 34, 93, 113, 155

Brancazio, Peter J., 56, 57, 113

Brown, Harrison, 191, 195, 196, 197

Brown, Irene L., 33, 34, 156

Brown, J. Campbell, 178

Brown, Lester R., 1, 13

Brown, William, 269

Bryson, Reid A., 57, 73, 74

Burch, William R., Jr., 74

Burgess, Ernest W., 122, 124

Burnet, Macfarlane, 140, 141

Burridge, Kenelm, 195, 197

Buultjens, Ralph, 268, 269

Caldwell, Lynton K., 1

Calhoun, John B., 113

Campbell, Bernard G., 155, 156

Cameron, A. G. W, 56, 57, 113

Cannon, Walter B., 156

Carson, Rachel, 113, 114

Carter, Jimmy, 6, 13, 183, 184, 195, 227, 228, 229, 237, 241, 242, 245, 268

Carter, Luther J., 268

Castro, Fidel, 11

Catton, William R., Jr., 13, 90, 242

Caudill, Harry M., 156

Chandler, Lester V., 178, 179

Chase, Allan, 53, 139, 140

Chedd, Graham, 195

Cheremisinoff, Paul N., 196, 197

Childe, V. Gordon, 33, 34

Chorley, Kenneth, 123, 124

Christian, John J., 224

Churchill, Winston, 112, 227

Clark, Colin, 55

Clements, Frederic E., 122, 123, 124

Cloud, Preston, 113, 114

Coale, Ansley J., 18, 33, 34

Cohn, Norman, 73, 195, 197

Cole, H. S. D., 267

Columbus, Christopher, 24, 25, 42, 52, 266

Commager, Henry Steele, 75

Commoner, Barry, 179, 224, 225

Conconi, Charles, 198, 211

Cook, Earl, 141

Cook, Fred, 179

Corliss, William R., 195, 196, 198

Coser, Lewis A., 14, 90

Cottrell, Fred, 44, 50, 53, 55, 57, 140, 141

Crescitelli, Frederick, 155

Cric...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Preface
• Foreword
• Contents
• I. The Unfathomed Predicament of Mankind
• II. Eventually had Already Come Yesterday
• III. Siege and the Avoidance of Truth
• IV. Toward Ecological Understanding
• V. Resistance and Change
• VI. Living with the New Reality
• Glossary
• Indexes