Clownfish,

This is from Norman Borlaug's Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1970:

"It is true that the tide of the battle against hunger has changed for the better during the past three years. But tides have a way of flowing and then ebbing again. We may be at high tide now, but ebb tide could soon set in if we become complacent and relax our efforts. For we are dealing with two opposing forces, the scientific power of food production and the biologic power of human reproduction. Man has made amazing progress recently in his potential mastery of these two contending powers. Science, invention, and technology have given him materials and methods for increasing his food supplies substantially and sometimes spectacularly, as I hope to prove tomorrow in my first address as a newly decorated and dedicated Nobel Laureate. Man also has acquired the means to reduce the rate of human reproduction effectively and humanely. He is using his powers for increasing the rate and amount of food production. But he is not yet using adequately his potential for decreasing the rate of human reproduction. The result is that the rate of population increase exceeds the rate of increase in food production in some areas.

There can be no permanent progress in the battle against hunger until the agencies that fight for increased food production and those that fight for population control unite in a common effort. Fighting alone, they may win temporary skirmishes, but united they can win a decisive and lasting victory to provide food and other amenities of a progressive civilization for the benefit of all mankind."

It is worth remembering that world grain production per person peaked in 1984. You may not be concerned about how grain prices have been rising for a number of years, but the World Bank is.

http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/0,,contentMDK:21665883~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:469372,00.html

Clownfish,
Projections on population growth are projections nothing more, nothing less. Population growth projections in the past have in every case been notoriously wrong - sometimes understating and sometimes overstating the future growth. Whatever the projections may be though is really academic What is not academic is:- 1) Government policies and peoples behaviors can have a significant effect on future growth regardless of projections and 2) there are limits to growth even if those limits cannot definitely be ascertained.

Perhaps you need to work on your mastery of facts more diligently and temper your vitriolic condemnation against those with a different view to provide more creditable arguments to support your ideologies.

Kulu, you are wasting your time. It is never going to happen.

Have a good day.

David

If VK3AUU and people who think like him have had children, why? If they haven't then they just cut off electricity, water and gas to their homes and grow their own food. Whingers will then die out!
I love how Western yuppies think they have any right to lecture Africans or any other people to reduce what they are entitled to. Close off utilities grow your own food and be childless and then talk to me lol. Of course I will have to tell you this "end of the world comming" talk has been around forever and yes they have all said THIS TIME it is serious.Yeah sure, people who have difficulty dressing themselves are not going to be listened to by anyone including me.

JBowyer,

Who said anything about lecturing the Africans? We can do our best to empower them and educate them (particularly the women) and to provide them with health care and fertility advice and wherewithal. That should help but as VK3AUU notes it is easier said than done.

What we very much should do though is to educate the "growth at all costs" politicians in this country and those who support their policies on issues like the sheer stupidity of encouraging more kids through rubbish like the baby bonus. Now that IS an uphill task - probably a more difficult one even than addressing the issues in Africa.

As Herbert Stein said; "If something cannot go on forever it will stop." I agree. One way or another the worlds population will stop growing because simply put the planet is just not going to grow to accommodate them even if you think it will.