

Is population growth out of control? - AndrewDucker
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24303537

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lutusp
Quote: "The respected broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, told
the BBC recently that population growth was "out of control" \- but one expert
says the number of people on the planet could peak in 40 years. Who should we
believe?"

Wait -- isn't it obvious that both statements are true? That world population
will peak in 40 years, _and_ population is out of control? Where's the
conflict between those two statements?

If population had peaked 30 years ago, I might have been willing to hear that
population isn't out of control, but I would still argue that it's a serious
problem. Why? Because that earlier population was already unsustainable with
existing resources.

Many have argued that a world population of 500 million to 1 billion people is
the carrying capacity of Planet Earth, if we expect not to strip the planet
bare and then face a crisis we can only imagine. Any higher population only
postpones an inevitable day of reckoning.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
"Population" being out-of-control and "population growth" being out of control
are two different things. Presumably you'd think that the population shrinking
very slightly from today's levels would be bad despite negative growth.

~~~
lutusp
Fair enough, but the size of the population, and its first derivative, are
both serious issues. There are too many people, and the rate of increase isn't
zero (it's about 1.1% on average worldwide). Both are problems.

