What are these resources that we're in danger or depleting?
All conjecture but:
-Energy resources should become sustainable from one source or another in the next 50 years (well before we deplete the oil/gas/coal reserves)
- Meat / food /grain will be lab constructed and shouldn't have a problem sustaining vast numbers of people assuming they're developed enough to afford it (fair to assume it will become cheaper than genuinely grown meat given its production)
- Water is abundant and classifiable
- Air is abundant and classifiable
- Space is vastly under utilised globally
Admittedly without reading the sustainability reports that you are mentioning, I have a feeling they arent accounting for the rapid technological improvement or alternative sources. If I'm missing something obvious do let me know.
I'm playing devils advocate here now. As mentioned at the start I love the idea of GM and lab grown meat, I'm just trying to get some thought and discussion on the subject
Energy - Renewable energy sources still need actual physical materials. Many renewable energies, such as solar panels, utilise materials and methods that in themselves aren't so efficient/sustainable (at the moment. In the future I'm sure there will be a point where their requirements are less than other energy sources)
Food - Lab grown food is well and good, but I'd like to read exactly how it was produced, the amount of time it took, and the amount of space it needed. Will it be possible to produce enough meat to feed the population this way, given that it'll still need "feeding" itself, power, and space to be grown?
Water, air and space yes are in vast quantities, but each of those, in places, have been damaged/polluted due to misused or overpopulation. Yes it can be purified, but at what cost?
Oil is so important, not just for fuel, but for the creation of plastics and other chemicals. Yes we have "bio oil", but that in itself wouldn't support the global population. Solutions like "palm oil" are pretty bad, resulting in the loss of vast swathes of extremely biodiverse land.
As to the papers, sadly the first thing work did, was disable my accounts about 3 hours after I was officially redundant, so my ability to use Web of Knowledge etc to find examples is limited, but here we go:
Fairly old article:
http://www.urbanhabitat.org/node/955Abstract regarding phosphate supply, an interesting angle, as to grow foods in a lab you'd still need phosphates, so this would be one of those resources that are dwindling:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883292711001685The reason I am interested in this is that it formed a part of my degree, with units covering human rights, sustainability, and environmental law. I hated those units, but it seems that some of it rubbed off on me.