The Unavoidable Problem with Exponential Growth

Prof. Albert Bartlett 

From Wikipedia:

Albert Allen Bartlett (born 1923 in Shanghai) is an emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. Professor Bartlett has lectured over 1,600 times since September, 1969 on Arithmetic, Population, and Energy.

Bartlett believes that sustainable growth is a contradiction, since modest annual percentage population increases will inevitably equate to huge exponential growth over sustained periods of time. He therefore regards human overpopulation as "The Greatest Challenge" facing humanity.

See his very thought-provoking lecture here.

From wonderingmind42's channel on YouTube:

"Several million views for an old codger giving a lecture about arithmetic? What's going on? You'll just have to watch to see what's so damn amazing about what he (Prof. Albert Bartlett) has to say. When I saw this lecture at a conference in 1995, I came out blasted, thinking "This needs to be required listening for every person on the planet. Nothing else will matter if we don't understand this." 

The presenter is Albert Bartlett, a retired Physics prof. at U of Colorado-Boulder. The presentation is titled "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy," and I introduce it to my students as "The most boring video you'll ever see, and the most important." 

But then again, after viewing it, most said that if you followed along with what Bartlett is saying, it's quite easy to pay attention, because the content is so damn compelling."

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7:

Part 8:

Watch the whole playlist at YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=6A1FD147A45EF50D