Based on modelling by MIT scientists of a world destabilised by growing consumption, the 1972 "Limits To Growth" simulation has been attacked as flawed by some but applauded by others as prescient of accelerating planetary stress.
Building off its predecessor, the Earth4All model developed by a cross-discipline team of researchers sought to explore what it would take to increase the wellbeing of humanity during the rest of this century using data from the 1980-2020 period.
Its central conclusion was that, if left unchecked, rising inequality in the next 50 years would leave people less trusting of governments and other institutions, making co-operation to deal with climate change and other threats more difficult.
