Soren Wheeler

PM x Radiolab: Can the economy grow forever? Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1241388988/1268616421" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Earth can sustain life for another 100 million years, but can we? This episode, we partner with Radiolab to take stock of the essential raw materials that enable us to live as we do here on Earth — everything from sand to copper to oil — and tally up how much we have left.

When I was in 4th grade, my teacher gave everyone in class an ice cube. Our task, she said, was to keep it from melting for as long as possible. In a room full of 10 year olds, that task turned into a heated competition. But I wasn’t worried. I’d had a stroke of insight: I knew the ice cube needed to stay cold, and it just so happened there was a sink in the back of the classroom with a limitless supply of cold water.