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[The ecological limits to demographic growth].


 Although most individuals are able to conceive of limitations on local resources, the idea that global resources are also potentially exhaustible appears harder to grasp. Not only are soil resources exhaustible, but the total vegetal biomass is ultimately limited by the fixed quantity of energy received from the sun. If the biomass is finite, the human population must also be finite. It would be very difficult to estimate the size of the human population that could be supported on earth because of the very different use of resources by different groups. Roughly 76% of the world's 5 billion persons live in the developing countries, and most of them weigh less heavily on the ecosystem as individuals than do persons living in the developed countries. Despite the difficulties of defining an ecologic limit on growth, the topic has held a certain fascination throughout history and various attempts have been made, most recently in 1972 with "The Limits of Growth". The question of ecological limits to growth is implicitly or explicitly posed in terms of 3 major problems: food resources, the physical capacity of ecosystems, and the territoriality of populations within ecosystems. The problem is made more complex by the fact that the objective of human societies compatible with resources. Soil erosion, inappropriate agricultural practices, pollution, the automobile and waste disposal are examples of technological aspects of society whose costs have not been rationally dealth with and which are not managed in a satisfactory manner in contemporary life. All economic and demographic growth carries with it bioecological degradation. The question of whether the earth is now overpopulated cannot be answered precisely. Nevertheless, the terrestrial ecosystem is in crisis; it is being degraded faster than it can be restored. There are no more free goods; air and water are not free.
