Club of Rome Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The club of Rome is an international think tank that includes a collection of scientists, entrepreneurs, civil servants, and former heads of state who contribute their collective experiences to foster a better understanding of diverse issues facing the globe. The group grew out of an April 1968 meeting of a similarly diverse collection of people from across the globe convened by Dr. Aurelio Peccei, an Italian industrialist, at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. Initial meetings for the Club of Rome culminated in the decision to study and offer policy alternatives on a varying array of problems, including poverty, environmental degradation, demographic issues, and urban expansion, to name a few. The Club of Rome considered conventional analyses to fall short of offering more complete explanations for what it called the world problematique or the social, political, economic, and environmental problems plaguing the world. Instead, it sought to understand these global issues by recognizing their complexity and interdependence. It further recognized that these problems were long-standing and required solutions that were holistic in approach, global in reach, and long term.

The Club of Rome is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and its membership includes active, associate, honorary and institutional members. There are no more than 100 active members representing a variety of backgrounds with a recognized history of work in the international sphere. They are elected for five-year renewable terms by the Club of Rome’s Executive Committee. H. R. H. Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordon is the Club of Rome’s current (2006) president, while other well-known current active members include Fernando Cardoso, Saskia Sassen, and Wolfgang Sachs. Honorary members include eminent world leaders, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Vaclav Havel, Juan Carlos I of Spain, Wangari Maathai, and Eduard Shevardnadze, whose global reputation can help forward the club’s overall mission. Additionally, the club has national associations that coordinate the implementation of its policy and provide advice to decision makers in countries across the globe.

The club holds an annual conference to help stimulate research and interaction amongst its members and generate debate around pressing global issues. It commissions reports on issues of concern, and these also offer solutions and policy alternatives. The Club of Rome is perhaps best known for The Limits to Growth report published in 1972, which was eventually translated into about 30 languages. Among other issues, this book considered the effect of expanding human populations on resources. Limits to Growth was criticized by some for raising the Malthusian specter of resource scarcities and limits to economic growth, while critically acclaimed by others who considered it to jump-start debate on resource use and environmental change. More recent reports commissioned by the Club of Rome include discussions on the future of energy resources, oceans, and poverty and underdevelopment among others. In 2001 the Club of Rome also initiated the tt30 group. This affiliated think tank includes individuals around the age of 30 who are committed to helping solve current global challenges and are interested in providing new solutions and supporting the work of the Club of Rome.

Bibliography:

Club of Rome website, www.clubofrome.org;
H. Meadows, D.L. Meadows, J. Randers and W. W. Behrens III, The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind (New York: Universe Books, 1972);
Gunter A. Pauli, Crusader for the Future: A Portrait of Aurelio Peccei, Founder of the Club of Rome (Elsevier Science, 1987).