Why is exponential growth not sustainable in nature

Students are entering the workforce with crippling student debt, unable to afford a house or provide for a family. Only when dissatisfaction with the system reaches an intolerable tipping point can the economic and political solutions gain enough public support to be implemented. Imagine educational systems and national movements that teach the youth how to think critically and strategically when navigating a world that bombards them with unnecessary temptations and empty promises.

Imagine the public demanding investment in the research and development of clean technologies, including renewable energy, that would eliminate reliance on energy sources that degrade our environment. Imagine the creation of a circular economy from the ground up, where households, businesses, and public institutions envisioning strategies for reusing their waste, so they no longer need to pay unnecessary expenses for disposal and replacement.

Imagine businesses throughout the United States engaging in dialogue on ways to cut costs by reducing energy use and realizing that by implementing such strategies they could afford to hire additional employees. Imagine consumers demanding high-quality, long-lasting products instead of easily breakable and replaceable goods. All these scenarios are realistic if the public is well informed on the possibilities. Exponential growth is destructive and to create an economy without it requires people understanding its ill-effects.

As I lay in recovery among my discarded Haribo wrappers, mouth full of cavities, and the crushing shame that comes with my foul lifestyle, I reflect on how large-scale change can only truly occur through positive individual choices. Accessed Oct. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Investopedia.

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We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes. Your Money. Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Economy Economics. Key Takeaways Economic growth is often associated with environmental degradation. Improvement in quality of life is what drives the desire for economic growth.

However, economic growth can be separated from unsustainable resource consumption and harmful pollution. Separating economic growth from physical growth can help attain higher standards of living without unsustainable resource consumption and harmful pollution. Article Sources. Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts.

We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial policy. Still, even with this oscillation, the logistic model is confirmed. Logistic population growth : a Yeast grown in ideal conditions in a test tube show a classical S-shaped logistic growth curve, whereas b a natural population of seals shows real-world fluctuation.

Population regulation is a density-dependent process, meaning that population growth rates are regulated by the density of a population. In population ecology, density-dependent processes occur when population growth rates are regulated by the density of a population. Most density-dependent factors, which are biological in nature biotic , include predation, inter- and intraspecific competition, accumulation of waste, and diseases such as those caused by parasites.

Usually, the denser a population is, the greater its mortality rate. In addition, low prey density increases the mortality of its predator because it has more difficulty locating its food source.

An example of density-dependent regulation is shown with results from a study focusing on the giant intestinal roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides , a parasite of humans and other mammals.

The data shows that denser populations of the parasite exhibit lower fecundity: they contained fewer eggs. One possible explanation for this phenomenon was that females would be smaller in more dense populations due to limited resources so they would have fewer eggs. This hypothesis was tested and disproved in a study which showed that female weight had no influence. The actual cause of the density-dependence of fecundity in this organism is still unclear and awaiting further investigation.

Effect of population density on fecundity : In this population of roundworms, fecundity number of eggs decreases with population density. Many factors, typically physical or chemical in nature abiotic , influence the mortality of a population regardless of its density.

They include weather, natural disasters, and pollution. An individual deer may be killed in a forest fire regardless of how many deer happen to be in that area. Its chances of survival are the same whether the population density is high or low. In real-life situations, population regulation is very complicated and density-dependent and independent factors can interact. A dense population that is reduced in a density-independent manner by some environmental factor s will be able to recover differently than would a sparse population.

For example, a population of deer affected by a harsh winter will recover faster if there are more deer remaining to reproduce. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Population and Community Ecology. Search for:. Environmental Limits to Population Growth. So enamored are economists of growth that during recessions they often refer to "negative growth" rather than contraction. The exponential-growth model fits a host of everyday phenomena: the explosive increase of bacteria that sours milk; the initial growth of unstressed populations, in general; the accumulation of interest on investments compounded continuously.

However, in no real-world scenario can exponential growth be sustained indefinitely, because growth implies increased consumption of resources, and resources are always limited. When a biological population has to compete for scarce resources, its growth slows, stops, or reverses.

Indeed, the sustained exponential growth of almost anything is pathological. Sustained growth of a population, for example, is a population explosion , and sustained exponential growth of cells in the body is cancer. From to , the GDP of the American economy grew at an average 3. Economists often refer to growth at less than that rate as "anemic. Such growth demands commensurate doubling, quadrupling, and octupling of the energy sources and raw materials that feed the economy.

On an earth with finite resources, exponential growth trajectories are unsustainable. The GFN estimates that global consumption exceeded the sustainability threshold in Current average global consumption is 1. Americans, God love us, consume at a rate 4 times what is sustainable.