It is formidable. No longer is Greta a teenager with no credentials accusing politicians of “Blah blah”. Greta has assembled ninety experts. I assume they are all experts in their fields, but the book gives no details.

 Anyone reading this information for the first time ought to be terrified. I was already terrified. I had read Limits to Growth, the 1972 study which predicted the effect of exponential global economic growth. I became terrified when I realized that the main inaccuracy with the predictions, was their speed.

But this impressive book has a crippling omission. The index does not include

The Tragedy of the Commons.

Incredibly, not one of the 90 contributors mentions it (or it would be in the index).

This not the first time the tragedy has struck. The Tragedy is that when any individual does something to solve a presenting problem, all they do is put themselves at a disadvantage. As humans are already in the early stages of the Tragedy, a trivial example is too many cars clogging up what started as the freedom for a few of the open road.

The Tragedy has much more grievous consequences where the exponential doubling in equal intervals of time unexpectedly reaches the limit of the new resource which made growth possible. Obvious occasions are the first plants, the first amphibians and the first birds. Perhaps some student looking for a PhD might explore how each survived this catastrophe.

Whatever triggered the phenomenal increase in humans after they diverged from other hominids, we seem to be the latest example.

Garrett Hardin’s classic explanation of sheep farmers actually contains a flaw. He assumes that each farmer acts as an individual. In a small community what happens in practice is limitation with a mutually binding agreement.

But the World is not yet behaving like a small community. Capitalism, which has developed into neo-liberalism sees competition and indefinite growth as normal. The graphs, most importantly of CO2 concentrations, continue upwards.

What I intended as a first bid as an answer, the unconditional basic income (UBI) has not yet been improved upon. Its purpose is to give all individuals security in the economic contraction which must happen if humans are to live without destroying the Earth’s resources. Perhaps someone with greater skills could write a book on this theme.

Greta’s book makes a series of sensible proposals, but why did Limits not at least trigger responses, let alone bring any of them to fruition? If the Tragedy is not at least a part of the answer, what else is responsible for this strange inaction?

Some point out that not all growth is undesirable. This would be true if it was mentioned in any statements taking growth for granted as an obvious choice.

But some limit on growth in general will have to be unanimous, World-wide, and very soon. This means all governments.

Could Greta’s book yet be the beginning of a rescue?