An article from The Conversation, shared by radiocable.com, analyses whether resource depletion is a real threat or an outdated alarmism. The Autonomous University of Madrid participates in the analysis.
Concerns about the depletion of natural resources have returned to the centre of economic and environmental debate. An article by Pablo Aguirre Carmona from the Autonomous University of Madrid, published in The Conversation, examines whether resource scarcity is a real threat to human survival or a fear that has been surpassed. The information has been disseminated by radiocable.com.
The text recalls that in the mid-20th century humanity began to consider that the planet's resources might be finite. In 1968, the book The Population Bomb by biologist Paul Ehrlich popularised the debate. Shortly after, in 1972, the report The Limits to Growth by Donella Meadows and her team at MIT warned of a possible abrupt decline if population and economy continued to grow unchecked.
However, Meadows' report received criticism and many economists deemed it alarmist. Since then, an optimistic prediction has prevailed: technology will allow for the substitution of any depleted resource with a more abundant one. The idea is that one resource may become scarce, but not all resources collectively. The economics of natural resources assumes that market price will guide optimal management.
The article notes that environmental economics does accept that environmental degradation matters, with damages that can be valued in monetary terms. Since 2009, the concept of planetary boundaries by Johan Rockström and the Stockholm Resilience Centre has set the starting point for discussions on sustainability. It consists of nine environmental problems with thresholds that should not be exceeded. By 2025, seven had already been surpassed.
The author advocates addressing the issue from ecological economics or bioeconomics, rather than the traditional approach. The information, advanced by radiocable.com, emphasises that environmental degradation is on the table and that society is aware of the problem.
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