Prof. DENNIS MEADOWS spoke, ite missa est.
If you're in a hurry you can go directly to the third one, but it would be a shame to miss the correction that Mr. Meadows inflicts on an idiot ex-minister (yes I know I used a swear word, but I have the right because this minister always bothered me
).
OFFICIAL DENIAL OF PR. DENNIS MEADOWS FOLLOWING THE FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF FORMER MINISTER LUC FERRY
On October 29th, Mr. Luc Ferry published in Le Figaro a column entitled "For infinite growth in a finite world".
In it (see attached photo), he asserts that infinite growth in a finite world is possible and relies on the international reputation of Prof. Dennis Meadows, main author of the famous "Meadows report", to whom he attributes a point of view contrary to the truth.
Dennis Meadows himself, having heard of Luc Ferry's text, has just published an official denial of the report.
We publish below Mr. Dennis Meadows' right of reply following the publication of this column which he believes to be inaccurate:
The column "For infinite growth in a finite world" published on October 29th in Le Figaro distorts the analysis of our book "The limits to growth" to support a vision of the future that we consider as an impossible fantasy. To do so, three strategies were used.
First, the column took our work out of context. Our book contained 240 pages of analysis. The column quoted one paragraph and ignored everything else. Our book presented ten possible futures. The column cited the scenario most favourable to its point of view and ignored all the others.
Second, the column fallaciously attributed to us opinions that we do not have and that are directly contradicted by everything we have written so far. According to the text, we accept the possibility of infinite growth. There is not a single sentence in our entire book that suggests the realistic possibility of infinite growth. Even the scenario mentioned in the column clearly shows a demographic and economic growth that stops before 2050.
Thirdly, the chronicle ignored our main initial assumptions. We showed that implementing extreme technological measures in the year of our analysis, 2002, could help preserve the world's population if steps were first taken to limit population and economic growth. Without these social changes, technology will only delay the collapse by a few years. The column ignored all our necessary conditions and argued that growth was possible without social and economic change.
You don't have to look at our model to form an opinion about the possibility of perpetual growth. One need only look around the world today and observe the rapidly worsening ecological devastation caused by the growth of material consumption. While these problems exist after a century of tremendous technological growth, no one should imagine that a few more decades of technological growth will suddenly reverse the trend.
Dennis Meadows
https://www.lefigaro.fr/vox/societe/luc-ferry-pour-une-croissance-infinie-dans-un-monde-fini-20201028?fbclid=IwAR3rPeA3Is13xgGJvoLHhYTKW8asaxFKuBNrN-2QZ9d9cJSzYQjFzihfXXcTranslated with
www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)