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Beyond the Age of Waste
A Report to the Club of Rome
Second Edition
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Other Club of Rome Reports Published by Pergamon Press
BOTKIN et al.
No Limits to Learning
De MONTBRIAL et ai
Energy: The Countdown
GIARINI & LOUBERGE
The Diminishing Returns of Technology
HAWRYLYSHYN
Road Maps to the Future
LASZLO & BIERMAN
Goals in a Global Community
PECCEI
The Human Quality
Beyond the Age of Waste
A Report to the Club of Rome
Second Edition
D. Gabor* and U. Colombo
with
A. King and R. Galli
*Nobel prize winner Physics
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First edition 1978
Second edition 1981
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Gabor, Dennis
Beyond the age of waste. - 2nd ed. -
(Pergamon international library)
1. Conservation of natural resources
I. Title II. Colombo, U
III. Club of Rome
333.7*2 S936 80-41614
ISBN 0-08-027303-3 (Hardcover)
ISBN 0-08-027304-1 (Flexicover)
This is a translation of the book Oltre l'Età dello Spreco
published by A. Mondadori
Printed in Great Britain by A. Wheat on & Co. Ltd., Exeter
Preface by Aurelio Peccei
This book reports the results of a study which was initiated by the
Club of Rome following the controversy which the publication of
The Limits of Growth evoked. At the time of this first report to the
Club, it was observed that it did not consider how far technological
development might prevent, or at least delay, mankind's approach to
the material limits, a point which some of the critics were not slow to
seize upon.
Technology, drawing from an ever-expanding scientific fund of
knowledge has been a major force in shaping the world we live in,
bringing enormous benefits and also, because of the lack of social
and political guidance, many unwanted and even dangerous side
effects. Surely then, science and technology, if wisely planned and
oriented, could contribute greatly to improving the situation of
mankind as a whole and help solve many aspects of that tangle of
world problems we term the problématique, which is the centre of
concern of The Club of Rome. I personally have always felt that in
the present predicament we badly require more knowledge about man,
his societies, the terrestrial environment and their interactions, as well
as more wisdom in the use of our knowledge. Hence any suggestion
that there should be a sort of moratorium on scientific research,
besides being well-nigh impossible, seems to me to be necessarily
self-defeating.
We need more research, not less; the question, though, is what sort
of research should be undertaken and in pursuit of what objectives? In
the past too much of our research effort, the world over, has been sup-
ported for its potential contribution to defence and economic growth
or for the boost it gave to national prestige, while too little was destined
to meeting real human needs of alleviating human problems.
W^hat is worse, by very definition scientific knowledge was considered
beneficial and its technological applications were equated with
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Preface by Aurelio Peccei
''progress'* even when large segments of the world's population were
bewildered and confused by new concepts clashing with well-entrenched
values, or were unable to understand and adapt to the modes of life
brought about by such progress. The world problématique has become
so intractable—and indeed not even the wisest among us can indicate
how it should be successfully attacked—precisely because people
around the world are incapable of living as contemporaries of their
techno-scientific advance. In the future, therefore, man's exploration
of the unknown and research on mankind's multiple crises should not
only be reoriented, but a large part of it should systematically probe
areas of ignorance relevant to the overall development of the individual
human being. Only with better men and women can a better society be
formed, capable of accommodating decently a few more billion humans,
of absorbing and controlling further doses of advanced technology,
and, at the same time, of keeping the planet in a reasonable state of
health.
In my view, there can be no resolution of the problématique and no
substantial improvement of world situations if we rely essentially on
technocratic or mechanistic methods. Too often in contemporary
thinking it is implicitly assumed that when difficulties arise—such as
an energy crisis, or soaring prices of raw materials, or shortages of
food for starving multitudes—market forces will modify the economic
factors, or events in general will lead to the development of new
technologies to rectify the situation. Let alone the cost in human
suffering any such automatic readjustments entail, the fallacy of these
expectations can be seen by our very eyes practically every day. In
particular, the long phase of gestation of new technology, as this book
points out, makes it an uncertain basis for short-term policies, in times
of rapid change such as the present. Indeed, the major problems now
facing mankind must be approached in an essentially humanistic
manner by minds trained in many disciplines and fed by a wide range
of experiences, in addition to the strictly technological one.
In the course of several Club of Rome discussions it has been
emphasized frequently that it is highly improbable that the physical
limits to man's existence will ever be reached, for in front of them
stands a whole array of non-material barriers, by their nature political,
economic, social, managerial, namely, essentially inherent in man's
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Preface by Aurelio Peccei
as yet insufficiently developed capacity to govern the immense and
complex artificial systems he has created on Earth in competition
with the natural ones.
In the present programme of the Club of Rome, therefore, an attempt
is being made to try to elucidate other elements of the world problém-
atique, in addition to the purely material ones. The second report to
the Club of Rome, Mankind at the Turning Point, by Mihajlo Mesarovic
and Eduard Pestel, for example, provides what may be considered
as the beginnings of a technique to enable decision-makers to examine
alternative strategies and policies and have some comprehension of
their possible consequences, before settling on their lines of action. In
this model it is possible to include political considerations and to
incorporate value judgements. The approach is essentially constructive
and is now being tested out by several governments as a possible
means of reinforcing and improving the traditional methods of policy
creation, at least on broad issues.
In the RIO project—Reshaping the International Order—Jan
Tinbergen and his colleagues are reviewing the existing world economic
system and its functioning, with special regard to reducing the disparities
between rich and poor nations in life conditions and opportunities.
This project should contribute to a better understanding of many
of the economic, political and institutional aspects of the world
problématique. It puts forward many proposals for reform, some of
which will necessarily be controversial.
In a new study for the Club of Rome, Goals of Mankind, Ervin
Laszlo is making a first attempt to penetrate into the core of the value
systems of our societies and will endeavour to establish a group of
objectives common to mankind as a whole and which could be accepted
by the cultures, religions and ideologies that often appear so divergent
and mutually hostile in their expressions. To find such common
denominators, the search must go deep into the new ethical foundations,
different from anything in the past, which can permit our proud
species that has conquered the planet and is delving ever more deeply
into the secrets of matter and life to rule wisely this small part of the
universe which is its domain.
In addition to the above projects, the Club of Rome is beginning to
review the inadequacy of present institutions of world society, the
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Preface by A urelio Peccei
functioning of its formal and informal power structures, the provision
of capital required for the necessary global developments of the coming
decades, as well as the educational needs of world populations, all
in relation to a harmonious evolution of the entire human system,
based on equity, equilibrium and quality.
As part of this many-faceted attack on the world problématique,
the place of science and technology has its particular importance.
When we originally invited Dennis Gabor and Umberto Colombo to
gather together a group of scholars and scientists—"technological
optimists'', as we referred to them at the time—to identify how and
where new research and development efforts should be mounted to
tackle the problems of food, materials and energy, we were thinking
too narrowly, in terms of the contribution of science and technology
in overcoming the constraints on growth. I have been particularly
interested and gratified, therefore, to see how, as the study evolved,
its authors have become increasingly aware of the economic, social
and political concomitants of scientific research and technological
development. The title, Beyond the Age of Waste, appears to me to
describe accurately the spirit of the book. Waste, as such, is mentioned
indeed only occasionally, yet somehow it pervades the whole issue; but
the waste concept epitomizes the whole problématique of science and
technology for human betterment, with the tangled interconnections
between food, agriculture, materials, energy and human motivation,
which the text identifies. In any foreseeable well-managed society,
research and development will have to be concerned with the optimal
use of the biophysical resources of the planet, both renewable and
non-renewable, of energy, financial resources and, above all, human
resources. Not only does wasteful operation of the economy present
a threat to future generations, but the actual waste of human resources,
through unemployment, underemployment, disease, malnutrition
and uncreative repetitive work which provides no satisfaction to the
individual, is already tragic in the present context and could deteriorate
still further with the great wave of new population which is pending.
In the face of all this, science and technology still remain one of the
great hopes for improving the human lot. It is for this reason that I
have the greatest pleasure in recommending this book to a wide
readership as giving some useful indications of where the opportunities
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Preface by Aurelio Peccei
and needs lie and how they can be brought together through a multi-
disciplinary approach.
I want particularly to thank the authors of the book on behalf of
The Club of Rome. Dennis Gabor took a deep interest and went to
pains in shaping the direction of the study and in co-chairing with
Umberto Colombo the brilliant group of experts who participated
in it. Alexander King provided invaluable insights on many issues
and a comprehensive view of the role of science and of science policy
in our time. Riccardo Galli took up with Umberto Colombo the heavy
burden of correlating disparate elements and writing the final text.
My warmest appreciation also goes out to the many scientists who
participated so creatively in the several meetings of the group or who
gave their time for individual discussions and correspondence. Finally
I wish to express the Club of Rome's warmest thanks to the Canadian
Ministry of Science and Technology, whose generous contribution
made the project possible.
AURELIO PECCEI
ix
Preface
In the debate following the publication of The Limits to Growth, one
of the recurrent criticisms was that the model had neglected the effects
of science and technology. It was argued that, if properly stimulated,
these would help solve the problem of the scarcity of natural resources.
Yet, some of the critical problems facing us today have become graver
in spite of science and technology. Progress in technology and hygiene
has prolonged human life, and accelerated world population growth
to such an extent that it may well double within the next 30 or 40
years. Over half of today's world population has only the bare necessities
of life, with many people living almost permanently on the verge of
starvation.
The problem of rectifying this situation is aggravated by the expected
population growth and by the uneven distribution of natural resources
throughout the world. This situation is shown clearly in the second
report to the Club of Rome, Mankind at the Turning Point, where the
need for a more harmonious "organic" growth is advocated, in place
of the present-day uncontrolled growth. "Zero growth" has been
proposed by some as an essential goal. This aim comes as a reaction
to the sudden realization that we are living on a finite earth. However,
zero growth cannot be considered as a viable target for the immediate
future because of the nature of the existing economic system.
Early in 1973, the Executive Committee of the Club of Rome asked
a small group of Club members, whose activities lay in scientific and
technological fields, to assess whether the natural resources of our
planet, in terms of energy, materials and food, would be sufficient to
sustain a growing population and to allow its basic needs to be satisfied
in the coming centuries.
The specific task assigned to our group was to identify areas in which
progress of science and technology can increase mankind's capacity to
exploit and regenerate natural resources in order to sustain a satisfactory
standard of living for the people of the world.
Our group immediately realized that its members did not cover the
wide range of knowledge and competence needed for carrying out the
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