The Limits of Economic Growth

For most of the twentieth century, economic growth was regarded as an unequivocal good.

在二十世纪的大部分时间里，经济增长被视为毋庸置疑的好事。

Rising output was synonymous with improving living standards and political stability.

产出的增长等同于生活水平的提高和政治的稳定。

Increasingly, however, economists question whether perpetual growth is compatible with a finite planet.

然而，越来越多的经济学家开始质疑，永无止境的增长是否与资源有限的地球相容。

Advocates of green growth maintain that prosperity can be decoupled from environmental damage.

绿色增长的倡导者坚持认为，繁荣可以与环境破坏脱钩。

They point to countries whose emissions have fallen even as their economies expanded.

他们指出，有些国家在经济扩张的同时，排放量也在下降。

Sceptics retort that such reductions are neither rapid nor widespread enough to avert catastrophe.

怀疑论者反驳说，这样的减排既不够迅速，也不够广泛，不足以避免灾难。

Some go further, advocating a deliberate scaling back of consumption in wealthy nations.

有些人走得更远，主张富裕国家有意识地缩减消费。

Detractors dismiss this as politically unfeasible and potentially devastating for employment.

批评者则认为这在政治上行不通，还可能对就业造成毁灭性打击，对此不屑一顾。

The debate ultimately hinges on how we choose to define and measure progress itself.

这场争论归根结底取决于我们选择如何定义和衡量进步本身。