) explains the limits to growth in this Youtube video.
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy5101 South 11th St., Arlington, VA 22204
Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat is economic growth?Economic growth is an increase in the production and consumption of goods and services. It entails increasing population and/or per capita production and consumption. It is indicated by increasing GDP, or gross domestic product.
Why is economic growth a threat to the environment?The economy exists within the ecosystem. This fact is overlooked in business and economics textbooks, where the ecosytem is viewed as a subsystem of the economy, and the economy itself is portrayed as a circular flow of money between firms and households. The production of goods and services entails the conversion of natural resources, or “natural capital,” into consumer goods and manufactured capital. This explains why there is a fundamental conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, pollution is an inevitable byproduct of economic production. The degradation of the environment as a result of economic growth occurs in many ways, but in general, economic growth leaves a larger ecological footprint.
Why is economic growth a threat to economic sustainability, national security, and international stability?To grow, an economy requires more natural capital, including soil, water, minerals, timber, other raw materials, and energy sources. When the economy grows too fast or gets too big, this natural capital is depleted, or "liquidated." To function smoothly, the economy also requires an environment that can absorb and recycle pollutants. When natural capital stocks are depleted, and/or the capacity of the environment to absorb pollutants is exceeded, the economy is forced to shrink.
National security, meanwhile, is a function of economic sustainability. The economic strife of a nation may result in insurrection or revolution, and eventually the nation-state may turn its agressions outward. From the Nazi doctrine of Lebensraum to the 21st century powder kegs, war invariably involves, and often revolves around, struggles for resources by nations that have exceeded their ecological capacities - or have had their capacities impacted by other states.
Can't technology alleviate the threat of economic growth?Some economists think that, because a particular production process can become more efficient (more output per unit of natural capital), there is no limit to economic growth. These economists and “technological optimists” are disregarding the second law of thermodynamics, the entropy law, which tells us that we cannot achieve 100% efficiency in the economic production process. When the entropy law is applied across all economic sectors, or in other words when the limits to efficiency have been reached, the only remaining way to grow the economy is by using more natural capital (including energy).
Remember: to think there is no limit to growth on a finite planet is precisely, mathematically equivalent to thinking that you may have a stabilized, steady state economy on a perpetually shrinking planet. Both claims are precisely, equally ludicrous!
Continued here:
http://www.steadystate.org/CASSEFAQs.html 
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