[ericmay]

I agree. And the other thing too is nobody wants to hear about the prospect of overpopulation. In fact, I think most of our problems stem from this.

Bill Gates, for example, says we can "feed 12 billion people". Ok sure, but at what cost to the planet and our quality of life? Others say "the whole population could fit in an area the size of Texas". Or they look at Hong Kong density and say "it's possible". But I don't think that is sustainable or desirable.

When people think of picturesque countries like Norway, they often forget that those countries have low population densities, which allow them to leave parts of nature untouched.

Another issue that arises is that the global economy is built on a forever growth model. We're kind of stuck with an economic house of cards standing on the back of continued population growth.

/Bit of rambling here.

[new2628]

I certainly believe Bill Gates could provide 12 billion people with Windows licenses.

[vixen99]

World population growth has plummeted. You should be pleased. https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2013/05/Updated-World-Pop.... That drop in growth was not achieved by impact of war, disease or starvation but by economic activity of the kind you think is an 'issue'. People want to trade and better themselves. When they do this, dramatic improvements can result at all levels. You're hardly able to take an interest in protecting and nurturing your environment when you're poor. Note how it's the middle and upper classes in the West who largely comprise the environmental action groups across the world. The poor are too busy just surviving. 19th century families in the UK (one of the richest countries in the world at the time) were large because 15% of babies under 1 year, died.

Hans Rosling: bedrooms drive economies.

[ericmay]

Growth in general has fallen, yes. The issue is momentum going in to 12bn people or so. I don’t think that things scale effectively at population levels like that. Not to mention the environmental impact.

[CalRobert]

I tend to agree, but remember that we need to include livestock in the population counts of mouths to feed.