The ecological challenges to population growth.

Human societies have developed by overcoming the constraints of nature. The result is population growth that will exceed, and probably has already exceeded, the carrying capacity--it is the most dramatic period in the history of the planet. It is not only growth, but existing numbers and their demands, that destroy the ecological basis. The obligation on humanity now is to add to this success over nature a negative instead of a positive feedback system. There can be no simple technical answer; solutions must come from the co-ordinated attention to environment, population, poverty and equity. Most political social and economic institutions militate against the changes needed. Two approaches are outlined: a tool for thought for communities to determine their aims in terms of fundamental human needs, and a resource modelling system to assess whether such aims are physically possible.