
Overpopulation Is a Myth - wlkr
https://overpopulationisamyth.com/
======
simonblack
Things that aren't sustainable don't continue.

I believe we should do nothing and let Old Ma Nature do the required culling.
And she will.

All of humanity's problems including Climate Change, loss of water resources,
loss of food resources, destruction of ecological systems, etc, etc, etc
ultimately come down to humanity's lack of control of overpopulation.

------
gimzi
Found it to be very superficial and "read the science" button provides very
limited information.

Can anyone recommend a better resource on the subject?

~~~
dredmorbius
Catton, _Overshoot_ :
[https://www.worldcat.org/title/overshoot/oclc/16587666&refer...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/overshoot/oclc/16587666&referer=brief_results)

Meadows et al, _Limits to Growth_ : [https://www.worldcat.org/title/limits-to-
growth/oclc/8165904...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/limits-to-
growth/oclc/816590435&referer=brief_results)

Online: [http://www.donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Limits-
to...](http://www.donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Limits-to-Growth-
digital-scan-version.pdf)

30 year update: [https://www.worldcat.org/title/limits-to-growth-
the-30-year-...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/limits-to-growth-the-30-year-
update/oclc/780854826?referer=br&ht=edition)

Joel E. Cohen, Carrying Capacity:

Article: [https://www.worldcat.org/title/population-economics-
environm...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/population-economics-environment-
and-culture-an-introduction-to-human-carrying-
capacity/oclc/7025335639&referer=brief_results)

Book: _How many people can the earth support?_
[https://www.worldcat.org/title/how-many-people-can-the-
earth...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/how-many-people-can-the-earth-
support/oclc/898942239&referer=brief_results)

Ophuls, _Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity_ :
[https://www.worldcat.org/title/ecology-and-the-politics-
of-s...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/ecology-and-the-politics-of-scarcity-
revisited-the-unraveling-of-the-american-
dream/oclc/872523631&referer=brief_results)

Ophul's bibliographies are excellent, one online:
[https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/6fgq8g/william...](https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/6fgq8g/william_ophuls_bibliographic_note_sources_on/)

Smil, _Energy and Civilization_ : [https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-and-
civilization-a-his...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-and-civilization-
a-history/oclc/1029804020&referer=brief_results)

Weissenbacher, _Sources of Power_ (2 vols):
[https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-
energy-f...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-
forges-human-history/oclc/416715097&referer=brief_results)

~~~
gimzi
Thanks!

~~~
dredmorbius
My pleasure.

The set tends toward the pessimistic side, but I find that more credible.

Ophul's earlier bibliography ( _Ecology & the Politics of Scarcity_) includes
numerous works on both sides of the limits question, including Khan and Simon,
John Maddox ( _The Doomsday Syndrome_ :
[https://www.worldcat.org/title/doomsday-
syndrome/oclc/959523...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/doomsday-
syndrome/oclc/959523903&referer=brief_results)), and others, all confirmed
cornucopians.

There's a literature from the 1950s - 1960s that I find particularly
interesting. It's from a period _before_ the question became hugely
politicised (as it did with _Limits to Growth_ ), and when you could find
quite sober explorations from both the side of growth and limits. One of the
more interesting of these is by Charles Galton Darwin, grandson of Charles
Darwin, and with a ludicrously impressive resume. Truth is that human
population was exploding in the period after WWII, and concerns were
widespread. At least some of the lessening of concern since then can be
directly attributed to the awareness-raising. Ophuls was exploring the
question itself in his first book, and I think makes the case better and
clearer than just about anyone over the case of limits. The fundamental idea
being not that there is _some specific_ limit and threshold that can be
specified precisely, but that _limits exist_ , and with exponential growth
(constant percentage growth), _those are met very quickly_. His read of the
likely future trajectories of various countries and world regions -- the US,
USSR, Europe, China, India, Africa, and South America, has proved quite
accurate IMO. China most especially. Ophuls is a political theorist, and
captured the political dynamics well.

The histories of the world through the lens of energy -- Smil and
Weissenbacher's books -- are most interesting to me. Weissenbacher is
distinctly political, Smil far less so. His "just the facts" approach may be a
snoozer for some, but I found it makes the point all the more impressively
through its lack of exaggeration or emotion.

I still need to look at Cohen in depth, but am given to believe he's among the
most credible demographers looking at the carrying capacity question.

