The revisiting of an MIT report, "The Limits To Growth", created in 1972, makes for sobering reading. The earlier report, generated when computing power was still in its infancy, predicted a number of possible scenarios, one of which posited 'societal collapse' by 2040. While they had numerous environmental inputs go go off (such as pollution), the 1972 report did not include climate change, currently a major focus. A new study by KPMG ( who do dynamic systems analysis) bears out the findings of the 1970 inquiry. 

MIT were stating what a layperson would see as obvious. If you aim at continual growth and your resources are finite, then there will come a time when the roof falls in. I am simplifying a far more complex argument but what applied in 1970 applies doubly now. Our fixation with economic growth will lead to our undoing, unless major technological innovations and breakthroughs come about in a timely fashion. There is some movement on that front, but nothing that changes the game sufficiently to avert a breakdown.

If we love our children and the children who are to come, we need to address not only climate change but also the underlying assumptions of economic growth. It may mean that people are not so rich, may have a lower standard of living or have changes imposed that make things less convenient. But what is that when compared with the alternative?