"The scariest part is that there are a number of people that really think we can just keep on populating without any effect on our natural environment."

Because they agree with James Watt that "after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back". It's hard to act sanely in this world when you're focus is on the next.

Perhaps the language of population needs to be turned around. We don't need population 'control' in Australia, but we do need to let our population take its natural course and stop paying baby bonuses and bringing in more people than we can cope with. All this talk about one-baby policies and forced sterilisation is just hysterical hogwash.

The trouble with levelling or reducing our population is that it will involve very hard work from government, economists and others to restructure our economy away from the endless growth paradigm. Unfortunately, people who brand as 'eco-nazis' those of us concerned about the future of our species and the well-being of the planet make this a very hard row to hoe. The current global financial crisis offers an opportunity to learn to manage with lower growth, if any government had the political will.

In his 2003 book, Plague Species, Reg Morison predicts that we will, of our own accord, approach zero fertility around 2030 and that world population will follow a bell curve, declining from 7 billion in 2030 to less than 2 billion by 2140. So perhaps we are worrying about nothing, but surely it would be better to plan for a new sort of economy for the benefit of our children and grandchildren.

At least there is much more discussion of population these days, and here's hoping the Greens and Tim Flannery will soon be able to mention the P word without being abused.

Excellent point, Yabby. Some posters have suggested that curbing population growth entails eco-fascists forcibly sterilising large segments of the population. In reality, it involves giving women equality, education, and access to contraception. The truth is that most government intervention is for the purpose of increasing populations, and this seems to be perfectly acceptable to the growth zealots.

<The trouble with levelling or reducing our population is that it will involve very hard work from government, economists and others to restructure our economy away from the endless growth paradigm.>

Is this really the case? The result of Queensland's recent population growth odyssey is projected to be a $72 billion state debt within a few years. This debt is due to the infrastructure requirements of a growing population, and occurred during a period of unprecedented prosperity. Perhaps the real Henny Penny's are the ones forecasting untold doom and calamity from a stable population.

Good article,Micheal.

Just ignore the ratbag denialists.They are headed the same way as the global warming deniers.

Sancho if you are going to take a stab at end times please try and get it right. It is true that no matter how much we worship nature it will not prevent the planet from burning on judgement day. It is also true that most Christians have a far more balanced approach to looking after the environment than the hypocritical Greens who are quick to destroy human life in an effort to uphold their dogmas. Just look the the destruction caused by the bushfire's largely due to Green hypocrisy. There were no winners. The current crop of gw High Priests have already been shown to be frauds.

Excellent article Michael.
Could I refer all readers to a book about to be released, "Overloading Australia". Those are the facts and a simple read will convince anyone with an open mind that the numbers will soon add up to a catastrophe.