00100	COMMITTEE ON SUFFICIENCY
00200	
00300	
00400		Until the late 1960s, it was generally agreed that material
00500	progress was a desirable goal for the United States and the rest
00600	of the world and that this goal was feasible.  Now there is a strong
00700	groups of intellectuals who hold that the goal is either
00800	unfeasible or undesirable or both.  This belief has a strong effect
00900	already had a substantial effect on government policy.  For example,
01000	Russell Train, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency,
01100	expresses it strongly in (Train 1974) in opposing "a technological
01200	paroxysm aimed at solving the energy crisis", and the belief has
01300	had substantial effects on the policies of the EPA.
01400	
01500	In our opinion, many of these effects ave been harmful, and
01600	even greater harm is possible in the future.  The greatest harm
01700	is the effect on the morale of the intellectual public - an
01800	atomosphere of doom and despair does not lead to constructive
01900	action.
02000	
02100		Of course, if there really is no possibility of continuing
02200	American prosperity and no possibility of the rest of the world
02300	reaching our level, we would have to face the fact.  However, on
02400	the basis of our study so far, we believe technological civilization
02500	can continue for a very long time (probably until the sun leaves
02600	the main sequence), and that other countries can achieve and sustain
02700	at least our present level of affluence.
02800	
03000		The doomsayers have convinced have convinced a substantial
03100	fraction of American intellectuals including scientists and
03200	engineers that America cannot expect its prosperity to continue
03300	and grow.  Another overlapping large group has come to believe
03400	that the way of life this prosperity has allowed should not be
03500	allowed to continue.  Russell Train, head of the Environmental
03600	Protection Agency, expressed these views in Science (Train 1974),
03700	and they seem to govern the policies of his agency.
03800	
03900		We believe they are mistaken.  We also believe that it is
04000	important for the public, especially the scientific and
04100	engineering public to realize it.  It will make them feel
04200	better, and it will help avoid some major public policy
04300	mistakes like not solving the energy problem.