"What would happen to economic growth if we stopped breeding"? lol...Well I don't know:)....maybe zero unemployment and smooth running system with all numbers that fits with the countries infrastructure growth...maybe...or what about using the same model as Ants and bee,s police their communities......and Iam sure there,s more points that others can add without too much brain stress:)

"Certainly too many people is part of the problem"...well talk about hit the ground running, its the only problem that faces humanity.........I guess maths wasn't one of your strong points Mr Squeers.

"Yabby:
<Well there you go, Poirot. The US is full of mums and dads,
just like you and Squeers, who keep popping out children,
who want to drive cars etc>

Talk about a contradiction in terms:)....However Mr Squeers/Yabby....the rest is quite correct but unfortunately your making the mistake of not pointing out that its the by-product your talking about thats after the fact of too many.

CACTUS

Cactus,

Congrats on the attitude.

On the contrary, it's the advancement of human technology since the Industrial Revolution that has just as many repercussions for the planet as a whole - our biosphere - that need just as much attention as overpopulation.

Here are some pics from the latest inheritor of "industrial magic without restraint" (something humans seem extremely proficient at):
http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/

< its the by-product your talking about thats after the fact of too many>
You're missing the point, Cactus, that the capitalist economy must grow or die, and that it grows thanks to growing consumption--effected both by excess and population growth. How else can it grow? The only way Australia can sustain its current living standards (temporarily) without growing its population is by flogging stuff offshore, that is by exporting population growth and consumption along with raw materials.

"that the capitalist economy must grow or die,...No Squeers baby, your missing the point:)....do you see that least bit, The "DIE bit....friend, everything on this planet is finite, and thats whats going to be the end result and us a bigger mess to clean up. In stead of 7 billion people problem to clear up, there will be 8 or 9 billion people clean up......look! your not going to get out of it Scott free my friends:)......either way one looks at our growth, this planet is in deep trouble and some of your grand-children are going to read my and many others warnings, and they will not be happy at the ones that could of simply started a human reduction plan......and after the word sustainable actually fits our species description along with the rest of the worlds living creatures, we the new people that haven't even be born yet, ( speaking from with-in the womb as someone not born yet ) they will love you and call you heroes and be celebrated for all time.

Then again, Women are the one,s that keeps popping them out........and some are so thick, their child at this stage of time, will be condemned to a life of complete sh!T.......and you females know it!

Continued....

..........Try taking true leadership, and control the numbers since you lot are the only one,s that can give life.

If your man says" lets have a kid!.....then you can tell him, that the kids life is going to be a very poor one, and if he cant get his brains around that one, tell him.....he can go have one, and good luck with it:).....not to mention the sex after a child is born, is never going to be the same again!

You try squeezing out a watermelon! and then feed it for 25 years plus...cause none of them are going to leave home, and you dam well know that one too.......(where are they going to go?).....thats the problem!

Yes, so!.....ummmmmm:)....that felt pretty good saying all that:)

I feel much better now Poirot, and you being a woman should know exactly who's making all these babies, its your kind....now! bloody-well stop it:)

CACTUS.

*but the real evil driving the farm is the same as it ever was, the profit motive*

Not really Squeers, no more the you wanting to get paid for your
labour. Without profit there can be no investment, without investment
there can be no innovation and change.

Yet much of that change is extremely positive. To cut it short, if
people never made profits, you would not be sitting here on the
internet.

With population its quite simple really. Your six kids means an
extra 6 cars on the road. If they take after you, your grandkids
will have 36 cars on the road. Wether they buy a few more trinkets
here or there, hardly matters in the big scheme of things.