Is Growth Good?

In: Foreign affairs, Volume 91, Issue 5

Abstract

This article presents author Bjorn Lomborg's replies to critics of his recent article "Environmental Alarmism, Then and Now," July/ August 2012. Lomborg argues that the modern environmental movement has been distracted by unproductive goals and a desire to thwart economic growth. As evidence, he cites The Limits to Growth, a book published in 1972 by a group of scientists associated with the Club of Rome. He assumes that those who acknowledge that the planet has finite resources must necessarily oppose economic progress. This framing reveals the limitations of Lomborg's argument. Unfortunately, Lomborg said, the world will be hard-pressed to focus on smarter environmental policies until it has expunged the dreadful doom of The Limits to Growth. And unless the environmental movement can overcome its fear of economic growth, it will also too easily forget the plight of the billions of poor people who require, above all, more and faster growth. Adapted from the source document.