M2 is a global community.
Compared to some countries our (USA) population density is sparse.
Its easy to just ignore the issue that is a global condition.
Sooner or later, its gunna catch up.

The issue is not just food.
Its global resources and the effect of high population on the environment as a whole.
You may not think rain forest deforestation affects the USA but in a global picture, it certainly does.
Go drink some water from the river, any river.
Drink some water that has been treated in some way.
Food is a small part of the issue at hand.

What significance is there for an impact that happens in a hundred million years when the problem will be way out of hand in a few decades?
The issue is the 7.685 BILLION people right now and the fact that more people are being born than dying.

When the rest of the world is starving and fighting for resources, how safe will the US be whether there is a wall or not?

Complacency grows on you.
How long will the privileged be allowed their privileges?
Will it be us against the world?

I'm not asking for solutions, as far as I can see, there are none.
I just think we should be aware of the issue and at least try to work together for a solution.

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

Any 'balancing' nature does do will be far too late, and the mass extinctions and loss of cornerstone species will mean ecological collapse and a whole new state of affairs biologically, and meteorologically.

Throwing facts and education and disincentives at over populating cultures is needed. And the culture of greed and lies and hoarding must be de-valued.

Society as it was before WW I, but with medical advances.

Agrarian villages cooperating, not competing.

Not sure if its your math skills that sucks, or your just don't understand the concept of time. If I have one child I have replaced myself by half (it take 2 people to make a child) and if I have 2 children, that will replace me when I'm dead. The fact that generations are created in between is not relevant. In the long run it all works out, just a matter of waiting for enough people to die to stabilize it. Here in the United States many people are actually waiting longer to have children which means there will be less generations alive at any one time. Also people are trending towards having fewer children here in the United States, much of our growth is immigants. The thinking of many researchers is that 100 years of age is all the body is capable, a few live lo longer but overall they would have to come up with some really radical solutions to extend life much longer than 100. We also have people die from sickness, accidents, and other causes at a much earlier age. So while your 78 year life expectancy may sneak up a little, it will only cause a slight swing in population that would level out over time. So if on average everybody had just 2 children the population would level out over time. Clearly we are unable to force people not to have more than 2 children, but if we could then we could learn what we need to do long term to support the planet with 10 million people.

I understood what you were getting at. What I was somewhat obliquely trying to point out, is that what we do about a given situation, requires accepting ALL of the consequences of our acts, and not just the INTENTIONS behind them.

We do NOT, for example, have an option available to us that includes preserving everything the way that it is now. In order to limit human population expansion significantly, or even further, to forcibly reduce how many are here now, requires the end of a LOT of existing human standards of behavior, the ideas of rights, freedom, and all sorts of things.

I've paid attention, while doing other historical investigations, to the MANY times that humans on this planet have tried to gain control of all of humanity, in order to try to make the future safe for whatever they had in mind as an ideal life for all. In every instance, the journey from what we were, to what we would have to become in order to find that "Eden," or "Nirvana," involved doing things that were VERY unpleasant to a VERY large number of people.

That doesn't mean I personally think we should do nothing, by any stretch of the imagination. What I am intent on getting across, is that regardless of what we jointly choose, there will be "unpleasantness," especially including if we do nothing.

I am convinced that population ALONE, is not the problem. Even a much smaller population than we have now, has in the past, managed to nearly destroy itself, on a number of occasions, due to fairly obviously "bad behavior."

In order to do better than the previous people who attempted to solve the Problem Of Humanity, will require a FAR higher dedication to education, to self discipline, and to assiduous protection of respect for each other, than any large number of human's has yet managed.

I believe it can be done, simply because there is nothing inherently stopping us. However, there is no sign anywhere in the leaders of the current world, of anyone who WANTS to find the best solution to our challenge.

We only have a lot of people looking for quick fixes and short cuts.

some posts were pretty long so I am not sure if someone mentioned this or not...but even though China is crowded, they actually decided to limit population years ago by saying families could only have one child. Then,
in November 2013, following the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, China announced the decision to relax the one-child policy. Under the new policy, families can have two children if one parent, rather than both parents, was an only child

I suck, yes.

The issue isn't with math.
The real issue is that our present situation despite anyones math is a deteriorating factor in the global populations scope.

Seems to me you are short-sighted in using the USA as the control group.
The issue isn't national, its global.

What is important is not the trend but the actual fact that globally, more people are being born than are dying and it is a constant factor.

I don't pretend to have a solution. A solution is not my intent.
I am merely trying to increase awareness so more people contemplate the issue that are smarter than me that might find a solution.

It doesn't really matter what happened in the past.
The issue is now and promises to only get worse the longer we do nothing.

Sure there will be drastic changes needing to be made by all (globally).
Its not even really about that.
Its to try to get the regular person to lift their head out of the sand long enough to think about the legacy we leave our grandchildren.

Right now, right this very second, only drastic changes can make a difference. In two generations, those changes we might call drastic right now may no longer be feasible.
Yet, we will continue to ignore the problem until it becomes so severe, nobody can ignore it.
Then, it will be people saying "Why didn't we do something about it while we could?".

I'm going to die long before I feel the effects.
Being a grandpa, I think about the world I leave for my grabndkids and their grandkids.
We ignore the facts that already there, I'm just pointing and asking others to "Look".

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/

Lets agree, nature is not going to balance human population.
We have advanced too far for that to happen, naturally.

The issue isn't even the fact that people reproduce as much as it is the fact that people are not paying attention to the effects of their reproduction on a global scale.

There is just way too many people alive, being born and not enough people dying. In any given time.
We don't live in the past. we might try to go back to the past but that would still be ineffective to the issue at hand.
There's just too many people.

Here's a solution:
Remove half of the population and make the birth rate slightly less than the death rate.
Problem is, if it goes unmonitored that is an extinction trend.
Ultimately, find a population number that is good for the species and make the birth rate equal to the death rate.
If more people survive, kill more people, if more people die, birth more people but keep the numbers in check globally.

Lets put the human population cap at 10 billion.
At 10 billion people alive, nobody is born.
All are terminated.
Then a volcano erupts and takes out 200,000 people.
We birth 200,000 more people and stop.
Of those 200,000 some will not reach reproduction age and some will not reproduce.
As people die off, more are born.

It sounds fantastic science fiction but all it means is paying attention to what is happening globally.

Please don't think I seriously suggest it but it might work in some twisted future.

Even if people were aware of the problem and wanted to do something about it, it involves ending someones lives.
The moral implications are staggering.
I couldn't agree with that solution.
Our grandchildren and great grandchildren are going to have some serious moral decisions to make.

You are so right Tom we are even more screwed than we think. For the most part it is poor, lazy, uneducated people who are doing the majority of breeding even more poor, lazy, uneducated people while educated people with living wages are actually not even replacing themselves. If you look at China that had a one child per couple law which has now been changed to two child limit they are expected go into a decline in population in the near future that will hurt their economy and government. Mean while the middle east and Africa is having birth rates that are out of control. What is disturbing is Tom may have been right about nature correcting things, but the United States stepped in and interfered. If nothing had been done in Africa with things like AIDS, Ebola, and the lack of food the global population would be much better off. And if USA would have left the middle east alone the war there probably would have taken out more people, or ISIS or Alcida would have taken over and then we could have went in and wiped them off the map. India also has a population growth that is out of control, while you may say India has smart people think of how many times your call has been forwarded to a call center in India where someone pretends to have an American name, yet you can't understand them, and they can't solve the problem you are calling about (don't pretend you haven't been there!). Even here in the USA it the uneducated, lazy people living in poverty that are F'n like rabbits and having boat loads of children. So next time you say "I swear people are getting dumber, and more lazy" you are probably on to something. If that isn't bad enough then we are also legalizing weed only adding to the dumb and lazy population. Not sure why we can't get poor people to use birth control, maybe just because they are lazy?

I watched Planet Ocean today.
1:28:59
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH1s9GCqPKo



http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/planet-ocean/
Planet Ocean features both the magnificence and the exposure of Earth's oceans. The dangers that threaten the whole planet also threaten us. The documentary asserts that the greatest threat to our oceans is humanity. Ironically, that means we're the greatest threat to ourselves, as well. As opposed to the more common omniscient viewpoint and narration which allows the viewer to remain a detached observer, uniquely, Planet Ocean employs first person narration to directly connect the audience to the subject matter.
Ratings: 9.09/10from 352 users.