Deutsche Bank AG - Historische Gesellschaft der Deutschen Bank e.V.

ses frorn business, such as the term "eco-hyste-
riai only served to precipitate rcact~ons de-
serving that narrle by the groups enraged by such
lntransigence, and crcated confrontation and out-
and-out hostility
Thc import of such a developmcnt extendiny
over lonyer periods can often only be assessed
wiih hindsjqht. Ncvertheless, just how important ~t
is to rccognize it early and nip it in the bud is clear if
one considers what consequences its untrammelled
continuation would have for entreprencurs
and society as a whole. A mood of crisis, on the
one hand, andad hoc measurcs on the other cannot,
b y themselves, do justice to the complexity o f
the ecological cri,~i.s. But in a materially saturated
societ~ a mood of crisis and hysteria are also indicative
o f a loss o f spiritual orientation. What the entrepreneur
therefore has to do - if not because of
thc social responsibility he shares, then at least
because of the direct impact on his own circumstances
- is acknowledge the presence in soc~ety
of an increasiny awareness of environmental
crisis, to understand its causes and to make the
position then attained thestartingpoint for his own
cfforts to shape his future circumstances, instead
o f leaving it to others.
What is the problem? The worldpopulation has
increased eightfold since the beginning o f the last
centuw average life expectancy has more than
doubled. World enery y consumption has ~n-
creased eightyfold. The living standard in the in-
dustrial countries has reached a level inconceiv-
able just a few decades ago. At the Same time, it
constitutes a model for aspira tions in the exponen -
tially growing populations of the developing coun-
tries. lncreasin~qly intcnsive - and ir~ the developing
countries increasingly extensive - cxploitation
of all resources is leading to cxcessive demands
on soil and watcr and the thin la yer of air
surrounding the earth. This is where the causcs
of the accumulation of all thc aforementioned
Symptoms of crisis arc to be found. There is no
doubt either that, independent o f the qucstion as
to the e ffective finiteness o f global ra W material resources,
the latter can only be ~itilized through fur-
[her expanding consumption of energy And thus it
is bccoming an ever more distinct possibility that -
apart from all oiher problems - the overtaxing o f
the earth S atmosphcre coulo~ take us to the threshold
of the "ultimate thermal problcrn': "
This insight is the basis for criticisrr~ of ihe
'Qrowth ideolog y ': the assumptior~ that prevailed
untiljust a few years ago that a solution to all econ-
omic and social problems - from the expansion of
the world population to the debi crisis of the Third
World - could ultimately only be found in further
growth. The answer can surely not lic/ust in trying
to establish - it is not yet possible iodax anyway -
whether there is a greenhouse effect, what reper-
cussions the hole in thc ozonc layer will have, and
whether or not the consurr~ptior~ of energy on the
Earth will lead to ongoing entropy: The accelerating
aggrava tion and aggrcga tion o f environmentalproblems,
the incrcasingly clearlirnits to key resources,
especially the rapid consumption of fossil
fuels, force us to doubt whether quantitative
growth can bc sustained withoui restriction - or
only at the risk of serious damage to mankind.