Some people say that world-wide birth control is necessary to ensure long-term survival of mankind, because the Earth is not able to sustain the current population growth for very long. I must admit I kind of agree with them: it's almost certain that one day (though not necessarily today), we will need to stabilize then decrease the human population to save the environment. Perhaps it will happen sooner than expected, probably during the course of the 21st century.

Here is the website of Optimum Population Trust, a controversial organization that brings some fairly good arguments in favor of the decrease of human population.

Some people are shocked by what they say, but personally I think it makes sense. If the Earth is not even able to sustain the current population right now, then eventually something will have to be done to control birth. We must think about the following generations: survival of Man is at stake here.

Any thoughts?

Well, from a purely environmental and detached look it really doesn't matter. If humanities' population increase to the point that the earth can not sustain our numbers we'll simply begin to die out. The mass die out will reduce our numbers to the point where our population will again be sustainable.

Of course from a humanitarian point of view that's completely horrid, and we'd definitely do a hell of a lot of damage to the planet trying to sustain the population before that, however, I don't know that we're currently at the point where we are unable to sustain our current population. I definitely think if we were more equitable in how our resources were distributed we'd be able to support the current world population.

Its a valid point. And alot of countries should encourage contraception anyway to control HIV etc. The problem i have is that we could probably sustain ourselves if we in the developed world were to live sustainable lifestyles. We consume far to much and although the developing world has a much higher birth rate than us its unfair to push birth control on them when they're not the ones who are contributing the most to global warming.

Although its a difficult one and I hate the thought of forcing people to have X amount of children i think we need to somthing drastic. The two most populated countries are developing fast and the developed world, China and India needs to step back and make huge changes now.

I agree, I think nature takes it's course in correcting over-population of any species. With too many people, the starvation and disease rates are so much higher. It would be nice to see some incentives to couples for having small families. And it is understandable how China has to worry on this moreso than many nations... especially with North Korean immigration attempts.

That is definitely one thing that will be more of a problem if there are over-crowded areas... the sheer amount of people trying to get into "richer" countries for job opportunities... or even the chance to buy things or foodstuffs they can't already get.

And it could become a war of the haves vs. have-nots.

When nature follows its course, population of species tend to adjust, that much is true. But humans tend to alter the course of nature, voluntarily or not. Before our number even starts decreasing, the damage to the environment might be too grievous to allow the following generations to survive. That's what I think, at any rate.

Well, I think the Earth in its present state probably is fully capable of supporting its current human population. The real question is human efficiency in producing and distributing food, as well as finding new ways to produce and use energy that will stop polluting the environment. Our technology is extremely advanced, and will only continue to advance. It could easily help solve many of these problems. But (alas!) there's not much profit to be made by solving the Earth's problems. Scientists are much happier to be paid by oil companies to suck every last drop of oil out of the ground, or do some other somehow useless task. You need to have governments supporting these effort in order for them to be successful.

EU governments have been very supportive of these eco-tech ventures. But having the United States on board, with its enormous Treasury and deep pockets (well, enormous before Bush, maybe, but the pockets still run deep) could definitely speed things up. China and India are more interested in the short term than in the long term, but, once they have developed enough, might be able to contribute to global efforts. The trouble is that governments are selfish, and are always looking to get one-up on one another. If we could just get them to communicate, we'd be home free.