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Economic growth
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==The limits to growth== The '''limits to growth debate''' considers the [[ecology|ecological]] impact of growth and wealth creation. Many of the activities required for economic growth use non-renewable resources. Many researchers feel these sustained environmental effects can have an effect on the whole [[ecosystem]]. They claim the accumulated effects on the ecosystem put a theoretical limit on growth. Some draw on [[archaeology]] to cite examples of cultures they claim have disappeared because they grew beyond the ability of their ecosystems to support them. The claim is that the limits to growth will eventually make growth in resource consumption impossible. Others are more optimistic and believe that, although localized environmental effects may occur, large scale ecological effects are minor. The optimists claim that if these global-scale ecological effects exist, human ingenuity will find ways of adapting to them. The rate or type of economic growth may have important consequences for the environment (the [[climate]] and [[natural capital]] of ecologies). Concerns about possible negative effects of growth on the environment and society lead some to advocate lower levels of growth, from which comes the idea of [[uneconomic growth]], and [[Green parties]] which argue that economies are part of a global society and a global ecology and cannot outstrip their natural growth without damaging them. [[Canada|Canadian]] [[scientist]] [[David Suzuki]] stated in the [[1990s]] that ecologies can only sustain typically about 1.5-3% new growth per year, and thus any requirement for greater returns from [[agriculture]] or [[forestry]] will necessarily cannibalize the [[natural capital]] of [[soil]] or [[forest]]. Some think this argument can be applied even to more developed economies. Mainstream economists would argue that economies are driven by new technology — for instance, we have faster computers today than a year ago, but not necessarily physically more computers. We may have been able to break free from physical limitations by relying on more knowledge rather than more physical production. A concern for promoting economic growth over and above all less measurable considerations is a symptom of [[productivism]]--usually a pejorative term.
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