>  tell those other teachers to ROYALLY FUCK OFF.

This is the advice I'm going to give out of context :D
Take the 100 sats for reminding me that I have "More from Less" on my bookshelf!

Shugard

It's a little dated (2019) so there exist better and updated figures ofc, but on the upside google tells me the book exists in German: 

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Mehr-aus-weniger-%C3%BCberraschende-Geschichte/dp/3421048460

If nothing else, I stole a couple of graphs (and probably McAfee has made them available via MIT too) that you can use.

Goods and services do not miraculously appear on store shelves or in Amazon warehouses. Energy is used along with other inputs to transform natural resources into goods and services. It is not surprising therefore that there is a general positive relationship between energy use per capita and GDP per capita. (Boston University, "Visualizing Energy", 

https://visualizingenergy.org/what-is-the-relationship-between-energy-use-and-economic-output/

In 2023, global energy consumption increased at a slower rate than the global GDP (+2.2% and around +3%, respectively) (Enerdata, which I believe used to be the widely used 

Just reading the intro chapters there make it abundantly(!) clear that economic growth and standards of living 

 -- that is, Malthus has been wrong for two-hundred years. Or listen to any of Elon's population takes recently: we need 

Tons of interviews online (highly recommend the 

 ones). Doesn't look like it exists in German, but there probably is a high-profile German magazine take on it.

, and have the class _calculate out the amount of arable/livable land in the world, and what portion of them are currently used for what.

If you come to the conclusion that we, somehow, 

 you failed both math and basic humanity.

Tl;dr -- kids, tell those other teachers to ROYALLY FUCK OFF. They are uneducated imbeciles, don't pay attention to them.

 is trying to fool you -- who knows? Then don't trust, but 

Keep an open mind that it COULD BE that all these schmucks are wrong about something, big or small.

alter_native

Let's talk growth, baby #13 BTC teacher in Fiat Madland

_edit_: ok, _this_ got long. Soz 

--

1) For somebody approaching growth and the environment (=_reality) from a climate change/nature/geography/resource-use point of view, I'd start with Andrew McAfee's _More from Less_. (self-promotion, here's [my review of the book](https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/why-we-are-getting-more-for-less/)). 

It's a little dated (2019) so there exist better and updated figures ofc, but on the upside google tells me the book exists in German: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Mehr-aus-weniger-%C3%BCberraschende-Geschichte/dp/3421048460
If nothing else, I stole a couple of graphs (and probably McAfee has made them available via MIT too) that you can use. 

2) there are plenty of resources(!) showing energy use and resource extraction in relation to GDP. Either those things are positively correlated, like with energy use (=read, fossil fuels). There's a chapter in Deaton's book too about it (_The Great Escape_), but perhaps more on happiness/well-being -- don't recall. 

> Goods and services do not miraculously appear on store shelves or in Amazon warehouses. Energy is used along with other inputs to transform natural resources into goods and services. It is not surprising therefore that there is a general positive relationship between energy use per capita and GDP per capita. (Boston University, "Visualizing Energy", https://visualizingenergy.org/what-is-the-relationship-between-energy-use-and-economic-output/) 

...or we get _more_ economic bang for our resource bucks: 

> In 2023, global energy consumption increased at a slower rate than the global GDP (+2.2% and around +3%, respectively) (Enerdata, which I believe used to be the widely used _[BP Statistical Review of World Energy](https://yearbook.enerdata.net/total-energy/world-energy-intensity-gdp-data.html)_)

3) I would use the widely compiled and aggregated numbers and charts in _Superabundance_. 

Just reading the intro chapters there make it abundantly(!) clear that economic growth and standards of living **increase with resource use** -- that is, Malthus has been wrong for two-hundred years. Or listen to any of Elon's population takes recently: we need _more_ people, not fewer. 

4) For a clash-of-visions take here, I'd go with Charles Mann's _The Wizard and the Prophet_. 

Tons of interviews online (highly recommend the _Freakonomics_ ones). Doesn't look like it exists in German, but there probably is a high-profile German magazine take on it. 

5) oh, yes exercise for the Stackers too: land use. 

Look up Hannah Ritchie's [graphs](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/land-use-over-the-long-term), and have the class _calculate out the amount of arable/livable land in the world, and what portion of them are currently used for what. 
- What's the land area of the Earth? 
- how much is poles and high mountains?
- how much is currently used for cities or roads?
- how much is forests?
- Are the forests shrinking? (no, asshat; they're growing back: https://humanprogress.org/ridley-rejoice-the-earth-is-becoming-greener/ -- or my own: [What Do the Numbers Show about Global Deforestation?](https://humanprogress.org/what-do-the-numbers-show-about-global-deforestation/))

If you come to the conclusion that we, somehow, **don't have enough land** you failed both math and basic humanity. 
 
Tl;dr -- kids, tell those other teachers to ROYALLY FUCK OFF. They are uneducated imbeciles, don't pay attention to them. 

Now, perhaps Mr. @Shugard is trying to fool you -- who knows? Then don't trust, but _go freakin verify_. 

Keep an open mind that it COULD BE that all these schmucks are wrong about something, big or small. 


 