Prophecy de Novo: The Nearly Self-Fulfilling Doomsday Forecast

An apocalyptic viewpoint of economic and population growth, prevalent in the past 30 years and promoted in The Limits to Growth by Donatella Meadows, proposes that an environmental catastrophe is inevitable. The political manifestations of this ecocatastrophic viewpoint threaten economic growth in several ways. This analysis addresses the theoretical precepts of ecocatastrophism, its implications for continued growth, maneuvering within this threatened economy, and the potential severity of such a catastrophe. Environmental catastrophists have found favor in the media, and extremist viewpoints have led to perversions of justice and regulatory expansion, which in turn threaten economic productivity.