A Better Plan Than 'Endless Growth': Enough Is Enough

[GliderGuider]

2. We literally can't do it voluntarily.

All life, from bacteria to global civilizations is structured by a fundamental underlying natural principle: to turn energy into useful work. This principle forms the fitness selection criterion through which self-organizing systems either prevail or fail - turn as much energy as is available into useful work as effectively as possible. It's an organizational rule of the universe, much like gravity. It's why capitalism prevailed over communism, and it's why we can't address either social injustice or atmospheric CO2 levels. Most people can't even imagine such a rule. But there it is, working silently within all of us. To some extent it shapes every human thought, feeling and action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_principle

H. T Odum: "The maximum power principle can be stated: During self-organization, system designs develop and prevail that maximize power intake, energy transformation, and those uses that reinforce production and efficiency."