Over-population’s key role in causing climate change [ark] is again emerging as a central component of the debate on global warming solutions [search]. Too many people, many of which consume in dreadful excess while others live on $1 a day, is the root cause of virtually every global ecological crisis [search] including food and energy. I agree with Paul Ehrlich and James Lovelock that “we have grown in number to the point where our presence is perceptibly disabling the planet like a disease.”

Seven billion people now, when a bit over a century ago there was one billion — and each needing to be fed, housed, and clothed — and virtually the whole world embracing democratic conspicuous consumption as the way of life. How could this not possibly by the root cause of ecosystem loss [search], ocean dead zones [search], scarce water [search] and an increasingly inoperable atmosphere? And of course, one American is equal to the environmental destruction of many in the not-yet-over-developed world, as it is not just raw numbers, but aggregate consumption (population x per capita consumption) that matters in terms of resource over-use and resultant ecosystem loss.