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I'm not worried about it. When the earth has decided it is overpopulated with humans, we will be wiped away without any choices. One massive volcano exploding and depleting sunlight and therefore agricultural production would be enough to knock out a huge chunk of population. We are feeding on a system that is near its max right now, and one glitch such as a summer with very little sunlight due to volcanic ash would break the system and starve at least hundreds of millions, if not billions.
Malthus did not forsee the "green revolution" with improved agriculture yields. None of us can fortell the future.
The "green revolution" along with a variety of other advances in technology have led to a better ability to sustain larger and larger populations on less and less land. Even so, there is a point where the laws of thermodynamics will come into play. You simply can't get enough energy out to meet the need for demand. I'm not sure it will ever get that far but in a broader perspective, population impact and standard of living is something that does not seem to be addressed with much concern.
The maximum long term carrying capacity of planet Earth is probably 2 bililon people, at least according to many scientists involved in isssues such as Peak Oil and environmental sustainability.
Most of the growth has occured in the developing world after the 1950's, particularly Asia. The West gave these people powerful technologies that allowed infant mortality and famine to drop, but a corresponding reduction in birthrate did not occur. This shows even the best of intentions can have unintended consequences.
The "green revolution" miracle is almost entirely dependent on cheap fossil fuels. Many scientists and petroleum insiders say that era is coming to an end. If the Earths population doesn't start decreasing soon, food riots could become common in developing countries. Food insecurity is such a big issue that the UN is really starting to take the issue very seriously. Even countries like Italy and the US are affected by rising food prices.
as we run out of resources, fresh water is coming up quick, we will do what we have always done as a species and start killing each other. with fewer people in the world, there will be more resources for those left.
Turning food crops into auto fuel is not such a good idea if you want cheap food. The comment about the volcano is correct. The agricultural capacity has been drastically curtailed by volcanic eruptions within historic time. It will happen again but there is know way of knowing where, when and how big the next volcano will be.
If there is a drastic reduction in agricultural production there will be an increase in famine, war, pestilence and disease. The Four Horsemen always ride together.
Yep, the planet knows when there's to much load on the system. All those typhons, tsunamis, eatrhquakes and such are just a start. Mother Nature will keep flushing the big crapper to compensate when the bowl gets full........
Speaking of the global population there were 6,666,666,666 living on this earth on Sunday, there's almost a million and a half more today according to this site....looking for the "four horsemen"
I meant to post this on Sunday but it slipped my mind!
Whew! We're saved! It's all been a false alarm, according to the experts!
I'm resurrecting this thread because of the following opinion piece which, in MY opinion, is so disconnected from the reality of finite resources versus infinite population growth, that I almost suspect the author is waiting for someone to call him out, especially on this statement:
"No, there are not (and will never be) too many people for the planet to feed."
Obviously, math instruction in British classrooms differs markedly from what I remember from my own instruction. I guess 2+2=5 after all.
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