@TheMiddleWay Overpopulation appears to be a myth, as growth has slowed in every region of the world where women are educated, given a voice and have choices over their own destinies. I find Hans Rosling's work in this field to be exceptional. He envisions a stable global population at around 10 billion by the latter half of this century.
[ted.com]

@p-nullifidian That changed my mind. Population will likely not be a driver of climate change but that damage has already been done and has begun. Rosling does not account for losses of life due to it, either, and it will bring his figure down by a lot.

@rainmanjr Indeed! Unless we can devise a means to recapture carbon, the climate change train may have already left the station. One of my concerns is for the trapped carbon and methane in the permafrost, the release of which, if we continue to see >100 degrees F in Siberia and Canada, is only a matter of time.

With regard to sub-replacement fertility, that number clearly varies by nation. For most developed countries, the number is 2.1 children per woman. The growth rate has actually declined throughout much of the world, with Africa being the last continent to receive the benefits (education--especially of girls and access to health care being the most critical) enjoyed by more prosperous nations.

@TheMiddleWay It is that kind of arrogant, anthropocentric thinking that will drive us to extinction. This planet is of limited size with limited resources. We are already pushing the envelope. It really isn't that hard but some industrialists are still on the pro-growth, Ponzi scheme economy.

@p-nullifidian 10 billion!! It has been estimated that to add 2 billion more we would need to increase resources by some 50%. If overpopulation is not a problem why do so many say the growth will end. The only question is when and how many will suffer.

@rainmanjr It's not population per say but the activity of people. More people with more activity means more carbon footprint and all aspects of the environment suffer. I do not understand why that is so hard for some to understand?

@TheMiddleWay Yes population is slowing but that does not mean we passed the planets carrying capacity some time ago. Still, there are too many who think our species is benign and many see the 'birth dearth' as a bad thing. I don't need my words repeated as I know what I said. 26+ years on this subject and some people see it as just another conspiracy theory.

@TheMiddleWay It amazes me that so much scientifically proven information is now being discarded. Over a trillion people, who the hell thinks that is possible!? We overshot the planets carrying capacity a long time ago. It has been shown, that to live at the US average standard the Earth could support about 2B people. We need to look around and see how people are living in the developing countries. At one time 1/4 (about 2B) are living below subsistence levels and 1/2 at subsistence level.

The big question is simply WHY? Why do we need so many rabid humans on this planet. The main reason is that economists have not been smart enough (or just to damn lazy) to come up with a viable, truly sustainable (meaning living off the interest from the Earth's natural resources) from the planetary bank account. Again, cornucopian economy is nothing but a Ponzi scheme!

@JackPedigo That the world population continues to grow is an indicator of less suffering on a global scale, not more of it. To reiterate, birth rates in most developed countries have declined significantly such that in Europe today, for example, we see negative growth. Apart from educating women and giving people access to birth control, how would you recommend the nations that have high birth rates address their overpopulation problem? I trust draconian measures like involuntary sterilization are not part of your consideration, or are they?

Like it or not, we are on pace to reach that 10 billion plus figure, later this century. The question then becomes, how to sustainably feed, house and otherwise provide for the entirety of humanity more justly and equitably?

@p-nullifidian It never ceases to amaze me how people can ignore the 'reality' in the world today and think more of us is a good thing. It's like talking to the flat Earthers or Q'anon people. If there is so much environmental problems with 7+ billion 10 billion will only make things much worse despite some peoples denial. The only thing I can think of to explain this lack of concern is cognitive dissonance.

@JackPedigo Please don’t mistake my recognition of reality as a lack of concern.