The maximum of life
quantity requires the minimum rate of natural
resources depletion. By using these resources too
quickly, man throws away that part of solar energy
that will still be reaching the earth for a long time
after he has departed. And everything that man has
done in the last two hundred years or so puts him in
the position of a fantastic spendthrift. There can be
no doubt about it: any use of natural resources for
the satisfaction of non-vital needs means a smaller
quantity of life in the future. If we understand well
the problem, the best use of our iron resources is to
produce plows or harrows as they are needed, not
Rolls-Royces, not even agricultural tractors.