Karolyn Coorsh, CTVNews.ca Published Saturday, May 17, 2014 8:15AM EDT Last Updated Saturday, May 17, 2014 9:35AM EDT<\/p>\n
A new study partially funded by NASA suggests heavy demands on the world's natural resources and extreme economic imbalances could spell a premature end for modern human civilization. <\/p>\n
The research paper, titled \"Human and nature dynamics (HANDY): modeling inequality and use of resources in the collapse or sustainability of societies,\" was published this month in the journal Ecological Economics. <\/p>\n
Led by Dr. Safa Motesharrei, a mathematician at the University of Maryland, the study's authors applied human factors such as wealth, economic disparities and use of natural resources to a scientific model typically used to study the interaction of animal populations. <\/p>\n
With this model, the researchers say they are able to estimate a human society's \"carrying capacity,\" which is a method, they say, for determining its overall destruction. <\/p>\n
UMD professor and study co-author Eugenia Kalnay says the model shows that sustained exploitation of natural resources can eventually lead to a catastrophic societal breakdown. <\/p>\n
\"And if inequality continues such that the rich consume far more than the poor, the system eventually collapses,\" Kalnay said. <\/p>\n
However, the authors emphasize that HANDY is \"not a forecasting model,\" and is not intended to explain any specific societies' collapse, \"but rather to provide a general framework that allows carrying out 'thought experiments' for the phenomenon of collapse and to test changes that would avoid it.\" <\/p>\n
Says Motesharrei: \"It cannot be used to predict the future of any society. It can, however, help us understand the possible underlying mechanisms in the evolution of society.\" <\/p>\n
Putting a positive spin on the study's results, the authors says that human societies are able to reach a sustainable state when they avoid economic inequality and limit resource use. <\/p>\n
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NASA-funded study looks at how our civilization could collapse<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Karolyn Coorsh, CTVNews.ca Published Saturday, May 17, 2014 8:15AM EDT Last Updated Saturday, May 17, 2014 9:35AM EDT A new study partially funded by NASA suggests heavy demands on the world's natural resources and extreme economic imbalances could spell a premature end for modern human civilization. The research paper, titled \"Human and nature dynamics (HANDY): modeling inequality and use of resources in the collapse or sustainability of societies,\" was published this month in the journal Ecological Economics. Led by Dr Continue reading