Over at GreenBiz, they sort through U.N. and other studies to glean some of the "megatrends" that are looming in the near and not-so-near future. Chief among them, of course, will be population, as the United Nations estimates that we will have added another 2.3 billion people to the planet by 2050. The U.S. will also cede economic dominance to China, and other parts of the world--Latin America and Eastern Europe--are increasing in prosperity ("prosperity"? I've heard of that). All of these and other trends will take their toll. Add to that issues of climate change as well as resource scarcity and the implication is we're looking at a Malthusian nightmare (which peiople have been predicting since...well, since Malthus). Says the article:

Every reasonable human being should therefore realize that business as usual is not an option for our future. Instead, the answer lies in a culture of sustainability. In other words, the structure of the global economy -- everything from energy and water supplies to manufacturing industries and the financial sector -- must be overhauled and transformed if future generations are to enjoy a life worth living. Economic growth will need to be achieved with fewer resources in the future. Products will have to be designed in a way that ensures they use less energy and can be recycled in a manner that makes it possible to easily remove valuable substances such as copper and rare earth metals at the end of their service life.

It need not be all doom and gloom. The article points out a number of possible ways of staving off disaster, from better sources of energy, to advanced information and communication technologies making resource use "smarter." The solutions are within reach, we just need the wherewithal to pursue them.