Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:35:13 -0600, HeyBub wrote:

Perusal of the Table of Contents over the past five years or so show
a growing interest in "political" goals: Climate Change (nee "Global
Warming"), green technology, fish kills, drought mitigation,
population control, endangered species, etc.

And those are all, according to you, political goals? I thought they
had to do with maintaining livable conditions on the planet. SciAm
would be remiss if they didn't address them.

Exactly what conditions are LESS livable today than at any time in the past?
Almost every POOR family in this country has a car, a TV, a microwave, a
cell-phone, indoor plumbing, and more. The poor today live longer,
healthier, and in all ways better lives than the affluent of a hundred years
ago.




And if (a very big if) we could achieve population control, that would
have a big impact on the others.

I once saw studies putting the sustained carrying capacity of the US
at anywhere from 90 to 125 million people. Even if we double the most
optimistic estimate we're well over it.


Were these studies done by the forefathers of the IPCC?



The US population has been doubling about every 60 years, which is
also roughly the world average. So it isn't just a 3rd world problem.

The only thing "political" about these issues is that most folks put
their personal well being above that of their descendants. Normal,
but sometimes disheartening.

Oh bother! If the entire population of the planet were stacked up like
cordwood, they would fit in a cubic mile!* If the earth's population lived
as the same densest part of Cairo, they would fit in the state of West
Virginia.** (Of course living in West Virginia would be pretty grim.)

The Malthusian doctrine you espouse was discredited many, many years ago.
Full agricultural output of the United States could give everybody in the
world a 2,000 calorie a day diet. Almost every natural resource continues to
get more plentiful and cheaper - check the famous Simon-Ehrlich Wager.

-------
*6,000,000,000 x 6 x 2 x 2 = 144 billion cu ft
5280^3 = 147 billion cu ft

** Cairo (280,000/sq mile) x West Virginia (24,000 sq mi) = 6.7 billion