Econintersect: The discussion of exhaustion of earth’s resources is not considered by many in a world of seemingly plenty. Previous thinkers, who have calculated when 
the world would no longer have sufficient resources to continue living as it has been progressing, have been proven too pessimistic (at least so far). Examples are Thomas Malthus (1798), Paul Erlich (1968), Al Gore (1992) and Mark Hertsgaard (1999 and 2011). But the discussion continues as in a recent podcast with the principals of The Doomstead Diner interviewing John Sharry, author of a chapter in the 2010 book Fleeing Vesuvius: Overcoming the Risks of Economic and Environmental Collapse.
The question of mankind “wearing out” the earth is not a question of “if” but “when”. Resources cannot be infinite when the planet has finite boundaries. The ultimate question is what the process of adaptation will be. If the exhaustion of resources can be experienced gradually then adaption can be a much more positive process that in the case of “hitting a wall”.
Click below for podcast of the John Sharry interview.
Sources:
- Collapse Cafe John Sharry (Doomstead Diner, soundcloud.com)
- Podcast: John Sharry and the Psychology of Collapse (John Sharry, RE and Monsta, Doomstead Cafe)
- Hope in the Face of Disaster (John Sharry, The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, 08 January 2014)
