The Club of Rome: the global conscience

The world economy is growing, but at what cost? Despite the unprecedented levels of wealth in developed countries, these countries are troubled by many social problems such as violence, theft, family breakdown and drug addiction. In a wider sense, there is also the issue of what all the economic growth is doing to the environment. Can the earth sustain this level of economic growth?

The Club of Rome was one of the first organizations to ask this question. It did not do so out of some gloomy desire to predict that the earth was destined to destruction and that we are all heading for some great catastrophe (themes which are currently so popular with Hollywood movie-makers). Instead, The Club believed that the earth could be made a better place for all humans provided the right actions were taken.

This article examines the creation of The Club of Rome, the controversy over the first report it commissioned, Limits to Growth, and contrasts that book with the warnings from the Rev. Thomas Malthus two centuries ago. It then explains how The Club of Rome fits in with other warning voices and the way that change begins at the margins. It concludes with an overview of The Club's continuing role.

The Club of Rome began in an informal way. Aurelio Peccei was an Italian businessman based in Rome. He had helped build up the Fiat motor car company before the Second World War and during the war he was a member of the Resistance against the Fascists. The Americans re-appointed him to the company after the war. He went on to oversee Fiat's activities in Latin America. As a successful businessman in Fiat and later Olivetti, he believed that business had a social responsibility to help the community. In 1967, Peccei gave a speech in Latin America on the dramatic changes taking place in the world, especially relating to science and technology. The speech attracted considerable attention and was widely distributed.

Alexander King, who previously had not known Peccei, received a copy of the speech. King was a British scientist, who had been a scientific advisor to the British Government, and who was then at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (originally created in the late 1940s to distribute US Marshall Aid money to help rebuild Europe). King had arrived at similar concerns and so was anxious to meet Peccei to see how these ideas could be followed up.

Peccei and King were lonely prophets at a time of overwhelming optimism. The 1950s and 1960s were a period of immense economic growth. There was a very low rate of unemployment and there was a general belief in the Western world that another 1930s-type Depression could be avoided thanks to government intervention in the economy. Additionally, it was assumed that there was a standard (Western) formula for economic growth that could apply throughout the Third World.

Very little attention was paid to the environmental consequences of economic growth. Indeed, both capitalists and communists were convinced that there could not be much of an environmental crisis. For capitalists, the market could solve any environmental problem (for example, if resources were used too rapidly, then prices would go up and usage would be forced down). The Communists meanwhile had been assured by Marx that technology could solve all problems. Both regarded criticism of their respective systems on environmental grounds as nonsense.

Peccei and King were not so confident about either the market or Marx. They founded The Club of Rome to study the larger questions confronting global society. The Club of Rome is a club. It is informal; indeed, the first 'president' (Peccei) was never elected as such to that position; he just evolved into it. The membership is kept small (no more than 100 people) and it is by invitation only. It is broadly based, so as to provide a variety of perspectives. The membership includes scientists, economists, business people, international civil servants, heads of state/government, and Nobel laureates. Its finances come from contributions from members, charitable foundations, sponsorship and government grants. It has only a very small secretariat. Computer modelling was in its infancy and so they commissioned a report on what all the economic growth could do to the global environment.

Limits to Growth, published in 1972, has been described as one of the century's most influential books. It sold nine million copies in 29 languages. The book was a warning. It did not predict what would happen; it simply warned that if the consumption patterns and population growth continued at their same high rate, the earth would strike its limits within a century. This was not inevitable. People could change their policies - and the sooner the better.

The book tapped into the emerging concerns of some people. Beneath all the glitz and glamour of rapid economic growth, some people were troubled about the long-term consequences of that growth. Many had to keep their doubts quiet; Limits to Growth enabled them to make their doubts public. Mass movement environmental non-government organizations were now established to mobilize people who shared those concerns.