Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos PDF
Preview Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos
LIVING WITHIN LIMITS This page intentionally left blank LIVING WITHIN LIMITS Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos GARRETT HARDIN OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS New York Oxford Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1993 by Oxford University Press, Inc. First published in 1993 by Oxford University Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1995 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hardin, Garrett James, 1915- Living within limits : ecology, economics, and population taboos / by Garrett Hardin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-507811-X ISBN 0-19-509385-2 (Pbk.) 1. Birth control. 2. Population. I. Title. HQ766.7.H35 1993 304.6'66—dc20 92-24250 1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America / teach only two things: the cause of human sorrow and the way to become free of it THE BUDDHA This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments The writing of this book has been greatly facilitated by the material aid extended by the Ecumenical Fellowship, the Laurel Foundation, and the Pioneer Fund. I am also very grateful for long continued encouragement from Charles T. Munger, Cor- delia S. May, John H. Tanton, and Harry F. Weyher. Valuable comments on the manuscript were contributed by John Rohe and Hugh H. Iltis. My wife, Jane, has judiciously mixed encouragement with criticism, while putting up with an author in the house for more years than bear telling. Santa Barbara, California G. H. November 1992 This page intentionally left blank Contents Part I Entangling Alliances 1. The Challenge of Limits 3 2. Overpopulation: Escape to the Stars? 7 3. Uneasy Litter Mates: Population and Progress 17 4. Population Theory: Academia's Stepchild 26 5. Default Status: Making Sense of the World 39 6. The Ambivalent Triumph of Optimism 47 7. Cowboy Economics versus Spaceship Ecology 54 8. Growth: Real and Spurious 61 9. Exponential Growth of Populations 83 10. What Malthus Missed 94 11. TheDemostat 102 12. Generating the Future 111 13. Limits: A Constrained View 121 14. From Jevons's Coal to Hubbert's Pimple 134 Part II Looking for the Bluebird 15. Nuclear Power: A Nonsolution 147 16. Trying to Escape Malthus 160 17. The Benign Demographic Transition 178 Part III Biting the Bullet 18. Making Room for Human Will 187 19. Major Default Positions of Human Biology 197 20. Carrying Capacity 204 21. The Global Pillage: Consequences of Unmanaged Commons 215 22. Discriminating Altruisms 225 23. The Double C-Double P Game 237 24. Birth Control versus Population Control 247
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