New Scientist against growth

Just as the world appears to be on the edge of an economic downturn New Scientist (18 October) comes along with a special issue on “The folly of growth”. Its online edition edition is even bleaker with a headline of “How our economy is killing the earth”. It seems to be based on the hoary old argument that the economy is growing exponentially in a finite world. Contributors include many of the usual suspects such as Herman Daly, Susan George, Tim Jackson and Andrew Simms. Along with the customary references to books by Herman Daly, Paul Ehrlich, Al Gore and Jeffrey Sachs are others by Peter Dauvergne, Herve Kempf and James Gustave Speth.

If only the magazine would stick to science rather than recycling dodgy economics.