Paul Ehrlich may be just a headline grabber, a clever charlatan, or a deluded but charismatic spokesperson railing against the evolution of an increasingly unwholesome and evil world wherein the divide between the haves and have-nots moves inexorably to abyssal and irrecoverable dimensions. As we sit in our ivory towers and criticize his message as outrageous, and recognise that he has no real interest in the downtrodden, but solely in his own status, we nonetheless attempt by our criticism to absolve ourselves from any responsibility for those 'others' struggling to eke out a meagre existence on rubbish tips or in virtual slave labour, those dispossessed of forest homes or small holdings by loggers or big agriculture, those with no future but endless scraping at the bottom of the barrel.

We live so much in our minds, switched on to our technology, virtually free from want, with our headline interests being whether NewStart is fair, whether single parents are rorting the system, or if marriage equality should be adopted, quarantined from the hardships of those outside our privileged existence, far from the front lines of a war for survival raging beyond our coveted, closeted feather bed. We have a choice between selective myopia or the salve of donating to the likes of World Vision or the Freedom from Hunger Campaign, but we mostly remain aloof, inward, uncaring that our privilege, and that of the whole of the developed world, is inevitably reeking havoc in other parts, inducing others to aspire to our example.

But we have made the early running through colonialisation and subsequently through power, influence and corporatisation, through the rise and rise of Capitalism, and so we continue to exploit those 'others'. We preach education and empowerment of women to stem overpopulation and want, and we simultaneously continue our gluttony in reassurance of our impunity.

While we push for immortality through unhindered procreation we secretly wish a sterilisation epidemic would envelope those 'others', leaving us free to glean every last ounce, until we too vanish into an oblivion of our own making, unless ..?

A few people on this thread need a good dose of Prozac.

Ehrlich, like 90% of academics, needs to get a real job.

Geoff:

"The researchers identified the optimist's brain suffers from "faulty" functioning in the frontal lobes."

Well, at least they have lobes; I'm not so sure about you and the rest of your mates; you guys would send milk sour; maybe it's a vitaman A deficiency.

The essence of Ehrlich’s message is rock-solid.

We have misused our technological abilities to grow ever-more food and hence prop up continuous population growth. Collectively, we have just so terribly missed the basic necessity of balance. Balance between supply and demand, such that the demand can be met comfortably in an ongoing manner, without any negative consequences for the environment.

When we start using our brains in order to achieve this sacred balance, ie; sustainability, rather than to pander to continuous expansionism, we will finally be on the right track.

Thomas Malthus, Rachel Carson, Paul Ehrlich and the Club of Rome were all well and truly on the right track.

For all of Ehrlich’s miscalculations or overstated negative consequences of our foolish actions in too short a timeframe, he is a million miles ahead of those who poo-poo his message and think that we can just keep on keeping on in the same old continuous-growth-with-no-end-and-no-negative-consequences manner, hey Pericles.

Ehrlich is a born pessimist. He has ignored the substantial productivity advances made in food production -- for example, see Matt Ridley's YouTube presentation, " How Fossil Fuels are Greening the Planet", at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-nsU_DaIZE

Great Raycon "Ehrlich is a born pessimist. He has ignored the substantial productivity advances made in food production -- for example, see Matt Ridley's YouTube presentation, " How Fossil Fuels are Greening the Planet", too bad fossil fuels are finite or did you not think about this tiny little chink in the Cornucopian dream.

Like most people, the red pill has been swallowed, fracking will save us all, energy will not be an issue, optimism, optimism, optimism. Too bad the true data supports a different view and outlook for the 7 billion plus souls on this finite planet.

Cohenite is still prattling as usual after failing at another attempted post this week to debunk climate science, pathetic really.

Proves my point "One problem, "optimism bias" is so deeply ingrained, so much a part of who humans are, that 99.9% of people are totally blind to its existence."

Sums up the likes of Cohenite, Spindoc and all the other deniers who haunt this site.

It seems to me that the more educated people get the more refined they become in their stupidity. It belies belief that with more than 100% evidence they still fail to see but hey, such is education.