Abstract
Global environmental prospects for the next 20 years are on net balance in decline. The major problems that are truly global, that is, that act and have their effects outside of and overwashing national boundaries, are worsening. Should every new source of difficulty disappear tomorrow, the problems would still worsen simply because we do not have the technology, the politics, the policy, or the will, within the time scale and framework required, to arrest adverse developments.
Previously published in Futures Research Quarterly (1991) 7(3) 5–55. Reprinted with permission.
Joseph F. Coates is president of Coates & Jarratt, Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in forecasting future trends. Mr. Coates formerly served as assistant to the Director of the US Congress of Technology Assessment.
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Coates, J.F. (1992). Factors Shaping and Shaped by the Environment: 1990–2010. In: McKenzie, D.H., Hyatt, D.E., McDonald, V.J. (eds) Ecological Indicators. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4659-7_1
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