THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: Sustainability: The defining question of the 21st century

Abstract

First paragraph:

My purpose in sharing my long-run perspec­tives on farms, foods, and communities is not to dwell on the past—neither what was nor what could have been. The past is important only in so far as it helps us understand the realities of the present and possibilities for the future. There is a basic tendency for everything on earth to operate in cycles—physical, chemical, biological, economic, and social. Life on Earth is made possible by the biological recycling of finite quantities of chemical elements. Even the universe is thought to be circu­lar so that if we traveled far enough in one direc­tion we would eventually return to where we started. Whatever goes around eventually comes back around. So, the past provides potentially valuable insights into the future. . . .