Sustainability Crisis: Renewable Resources Growth Has Been Maxed Out Since 2006 [View all]

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Here's some more evidence showing the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet.

Sustainability Crisis: Renewable Resources Growth Has Been Maxed Out Since 2006

To make the point that existing renewables may be maxed out, researchers from Michigan State University (MSU), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Germany and Yale University analyzed the production and extraction rates of 27 global renewable and non-renewable resources. They examined 20 renewable resources, such as corn, rice, wheat or soy, which represent around 45 percent of the global calorie intake according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, as well as animal products, such as fish, meat, milk and eggs.

The annual growth rate of 18 of these renewable resources - for example, increase in meat production or fish catch -- peaked around 2006. Surprisingly, they discovered not only that 20 resources had a peak-year but also that for 16 of the 20 resources with a peak year, the peak year lay between 1988 and 2008 -- a narrow range in the history of mankind.

There are several reasons why many of the peak years occurred during the same time period or "synchronized," Liu said.

First, multiple resources such as land, food and energy, are consumed simultaneously to meet different needs of rapidly growing populations and diet changes worldwide. Second, producing one resource needs other resources. For example, food production needs land, energy and water. Third, producing resources creates pollution, which exacerbates resource shortages. Fourth, extracting less accessible resources results in an increased ecological and economic cost per unit extracted, thus lowering the availability of the remaining resources.

Liu said this does not speak to hopelessness. Rather, it's a call to not be simplistic when seeking solutions and to acknowledge that all resources come with costs, and that the costs may not be immediately obvious, and span the globe.