[jnbiche]

>since most of the worlds problems today stem from overpopulation

Why do you think that most of the world's problems today stem from overpopulation? What problems?

If you're talking about hunger, that's demonstrably false. There is plenty of food produced to feed the entire population. Even African produces plenty of food to feed itself. Famine occurs in times of war and natural disaster, or other great upheavals. Most of the causes are man-made and have nothing to do with overpopulation.

[phkahler]

I would argue that war can be a result of overpopulation. Famine is also - it occurs in the places least able to deal with ebola. "Global warming" - we could reduce emissions by reducing population without changing the per capita energy consumption. Unemployment - not enough jobs is the same thing as too many people. Strife in the middle east? Too many people in that area of the world with not enough resource (or governments that squander what they have).

I'm not saying all of these are correct in an absolute sense, just that population certainly plays a role.

[jnbiche]

> Famine is also - it occurs in the places least able to deal with ebola

The areas currently buckling under Ebola have not been the regions of Africa most affected by famine in the last few decades, most of which are in the Sahel and Horn of Africa. And which were caused by political problems. Other than that, I'm not sure what this means.

>"Global warming" - we could reduce emissions by reducing population without changing the per capita energy consumption.

This would be true if you reduced population in the West and in Asia but the energy and food consumption of Africa is absolutely minuscule compared to the rest of the world.

See the references in my other post:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8320473

>Strife in the middle east?

Israel has a relatively low birth rate.

[fractallyte]

> What problems?

Uh - collapsing ecosystems? More to the point, encroachment of humans into wilderness areas which harbor viruses? The biggest 'man-made' issue here is more 'man': mindless reproduction and consumption without any regard to the future.

[jnbiche]

>encroachment of humans into wilderness areas...

...has nothing to do with overpopulation and everything to do with tragedy of the commons and destructive corporations. Brazil's rainforests would be cut down regardless of what the population of Brazil was.

>The biggest 'man-made' issue here is more 'man': mindless reproduction and consumption without any regard to the future.

And it's stunning to see the charge of "mindless consumption" being thrown at areas with the highest population growth like Africa, when their rates of energy and food consumption cannot even compare to those in the developed world. They're miniscule [1][2].

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_energy_con...

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_food_energ...