The root cause
 

of our enviromental troubles.

http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploa...pop_growth.jpg

All current ideas are stopgaps. The end is near.

Pete

Imho the gap between 1000 AD and 2025 is too narrow; the gap between 1000 and 2012 would be interesting.

So we're all doomed. Why then are we making ourselves so miserable? "Don't eat that, don't smoke, don't drink too much, don't burn coal, don't burn oil".

Whatever you enjoy, nanny says stop it.

Club baby seals while smoking a radiated cigarette on a 2 stroke snowmobile? :D

There's 2 solutions. The Chinese solution, which is cruel and not entirely successful, and space.

Here's a closer look at more recent growth:

http://www.globalfinancialdata.com/D...Population.png

But only through 2000.

Pete

There are only two kinds of people. Those who see only two options and those who see a myriad of possibilities. :D

Regards,

D-Ray

When one looks at the vast amount of empty arable and/or livable land in this country and the vast agricultural surpluses we have, I have little real concern about overpopulation.

But isn't it a real concern that as the more populous countries develop their economic base, they will want to consume at the level at which we have consumed. Do you think that the planet can support that?

Regards,

D-Ray

I guess it depends if you're referring to consumption of foodstuffs or cheap plastic consumer crap. The former doesn't really bother me for the aforementioned reasons. Think about it. Less than 2% of our population is involved in agriculture and lots of fallow lands, yet we have massive surpluses in nearly all food stuffs.

We as in the US, and it might be a selfish bright spot in a world of hurt.

Food aside, there are other issues d mentioned, pollution, overfishing, and running out of natural resourses overall.

Pete

There are certainly issues of overfishing and pollution, many of which are fixable. The Chesapeake Bay's crab and striped bass fisheries are both great examples of what good management can do (while the Chesapeake also remains an example of what pollution can do).

As for natural resources, I think we're nowhere near running out of critical resources. A few years back we thought we were running low on natural gas. Now, not so much. Same goes for oil, and we're nowhere close to running out of coal.

Perhaps I got off track. I was thinking of consumption in terms of the waste and pollution that is associated with it. For example, if the rest of the world consumed energy at the level that we do, the level of pollution that would result is difficult to fathom - not to mention the pollution issues arising from the increased consumption if consumer goods. There will be issues with the disposal of all of the BPC that breaks down after a year's use.

To your point, however, even feeding the growing population creates problems with resource scarcity. Much of the arable land of which you speak would need considerable irrigation. Our water supply might even be more at risk than our energy supply.

Regards,

D-Ray