Two ants on an ant hill were witnessed by myself to mull "if these tall two legged giants are so miserable with their lot in life , why do they continue to breed?"
Answer = education.

Carnivore
Increased education of femailes and fertility drops.

It is not over-population that is the problem, it is over-consumption.

Many countries have declining populations, Russia, Japan and Europe as a whole soon.

As a nation ages, it becomes anti-immigration, anti-change and that is why we will have at least 20 years of conservatives running the show.

Really Mark did not even mention that our death rates have already started to increase. 4300 people over the age of 100.....

In God we trust, all others must bring data.

Decentralise or perish.
You don't move the mountain to mohammed.

"It is not over-population that is the problem, it is over-consumption."

What utter rubbish dempografix!

Over population AND over consumption are of EQUAL importance.

Except that at pesent, both are so out of control that consumption and population must be drastically reduced for the foreseeable future.

I will point out the obvious mathematical fact that:

collective consumption = average individual consumption X population

So it is entirely possible for the collective consumption of India to hugely exceed the collective consumption of the US despite the fact that average individual consumption of Indians is smaller than that of amercians.

Collective consumption is the only thing that matters in the end.

<After all, Japan's population is shrinking. So is Germany's. Europe as a whole is still growing, but not by much. And after 2020, it begins to shrivel up too.>

Shrinking? Shrivelling up? Isn't that just more of the pop-growth zealot mantra, where everything about a growing population is Nirvana, and all else is Apocalypse? Surely the best World possible is one able to realise the full potential of its human resource? And how can such potential be realised without infrastructure?

Frankly it is weird to see the pop-growth zealots claiming the moral high ground when their only condition for this seems to be their faith. If I were to bet on a prosperous future I'd take quality over quantity any day.

I agree Fester.

What the Cheryls of this world will have to sacrafice, or be forced to sacrifice, is any possibility that they will be the next Gina Rhinhart, Clive Palmer, Frank Lowy or Harry Triguboff etc

And we will also undoubtedly have to all sacrifice, at least for a generation, the notion of total retirement after age 65 or what ever.

After all the entitlement of total retirement is a recent western invention born of the cheap oil era.

Most people throughout history did not have the luxury of total retirment and had to work in some capacity, according to their ability, throughout most of their old age. Those currently living in the developing countries still do not have the luxury of total retirement.