Rod Speed wrote:
David P wrote
Rod Speed wrote
David P wrote

Why did they say we were overpopulated 50 years ago,
when the world pop was half of what it is now?

Because fools like Ehrlich were predicting
the end of civilisation as we know it. Fools like
Malthus had been doing that much earlier too.

They all got it wrong and we are doing fine with the
current population and will do in the future too.

The Yale researchers called for ZPG 50 years ago,
Yep, they were that stupid.
but the other scientists didn't chime in,
Some like Ehrlich did.
because they were afraid to "bite the hand
that feeds them" (they get so much of their
bread & butter from Government grants).
Bull**** with ZPG.
The people weren't aware of what
the ZPG'ers were looking at,
More bull****. Ehrlich kept endlessly
raving on about it and still does.
so they didn't believe anything needed to be done;
Plenty did. And they were wrong too.
the politicians knew that, so they
just kicked the can down the road!
Wrong, as always.

Our eating habits say a lot about us, & nowhere is that
more true than in how we consume protein. Nearly 1/5 of
the world's population doesn't get enough of it, while
people in richer countries take in far more than they need.
People also tend to eat more meat as they get wealthier.
That has big consequences for the environment: raising
livestock requires huge amounts of land & crops & now creates
nearly 20% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

But people aren't necessarily fated to become carnivores as
they rise from poverty. The U.S. & Europe have been stubbornly
addicted to meat for decades, & China & Brazil have indeed
upped their taste for flesh as their economies have grown.
But India's population of over 1 billion hasn't changed its
meat-eating habits much.

It's food for thought for any meat-eater. Greener alternatives
like insects & cultured meat get a lot of attention, but they
are still far pricier than commodity meats (& usually not
nearly as tasty). Asking entire cultures to abandon meat isn't
realistic. But neither is our current pace of consumption.
We're going to have to trim from somewhere.

--Konstantin Kakaes & Emily Luong, in MIT Technology Review