INTRODUCTION 



Man's success in meeting challenges of the past is due largely to 

 his insight and the ability to share it with present and future 

 generations. Will man's knowledge of himself and of the physical and 

 social environment be adequate to the tests that lie ahead? 



Some of the challenges are as old as the human species itself. One 

 of these is the challenge of the unknown, which is reflected in man's 

 unremitting curiosity about himself and the world. Another is 

 represented by threats from nature, in the form of disease, famine, 

 and the elements. And a third class consists of social problems, ranging 

 from international conflict to societal strife and interpersonal discord. 

 These three classes of challenges, which overlap and influence each 

 other, have changed in detail over time but still remain. 



A fourth type of challenge has emerged recently and is growing 

 rapidly. This is the challenge posed by man's increasing power to 

 create his future. He has acquired the knowledge and means to alter 

 the course of natural events and to shape the conditions of human life. 

 Man's own actions, more than nature, now determine the size of the 

 human population, its distribution around the globe, and the state of 

 its health. His patterns of consumption produce a growing demand for 

 food and fiber, for energy and materials — a demand that can neither be 

 reduced nor met without altering the economic, social, and 

 technological character of life in the future. Man is developing the 

 capability to control weather and modify climate intentionally, while 

 his agricultural and industrial activities produce inadvertent changes. 

 To a growing extent and in a variety of ways, man has the power to 

 cause basic transformations of the atmosphere, the oceans, and the 

 biosphere — some of which may be irreversible alterations that 

 endanger the habitability of the planet. 



Thus, man increasingly invents his own destiny — intentionally or 

 unwittingly. The constructive use of such power requires all our will 

 and wisdom. 



The last category of challenges is the focus of this report. Principal 

 attention is directed here because of the growing practical significance 

 of this challenge and the corresponding need for urgent and sustained 

 attention. Several facets of this broad challenge now loom as major 

 problems: population, world food supply, energy, materials, climate, 

 and the environment. The nearly simultaneous emergence of these 

 problems suggests the close connections that exist among them. The 

 fact that the problems are global in scope indicates their pervasive and 



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