[vladTheInhaler]

Except that we actually have steered away from this course, though not through any conscious decision. More economically developed nations tend to have lower birth rates, with the most affluent somewhat below the rate of replacement. In my opinion, the best method to curb population growth is to get more of the world up to that standard - and energy production is evidently a huge factor. See for instance the work of Hans Rosling.

And either way, energy-intensive practices wouldn't accelerate environmental destruction, they would enable us have a smaller footprint in the natural world through, for instance, vertical farming (currently infeasible because electricity is more expensive than sunlight), carbon capture, switching from aquifers to desalinated seawater, etc.