this link leads to a story reporting evidence and calculations that human population may be tending to plateau at about 9 billion. one swallow doesn't make a summer etc, but we should rejoice to hear that "go for growth" or simple capitalism is not absolutely certain to triumph. if society can stop, we can hope it can reduce.

read the report, take heart if you also think there's too many of us.

someone make sure ludwig has this link, poor lad needs it.

http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/

Fantastic stuff DEMOS. Now I can take of my ‘we-will-all-be-rooned-by-continuous-population-growth’ hat and go take a long luvly holiday, with the knowledge that our future is safe and that a sustainable ecological footprint for all of humanity is just around the corner.

Oh what a wonderful feeling! ( :>)
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Oh uh, hold on a minute. Let’s take a closer look…

The net reproduction rate has dropped below replacement level… apparently… although there is no supporting evidence.

Andrew Leonard’s table suggests that the global fertility rate is current about 1.11 and slowly but steadily declining.

NRR and GFR are the same or very similar measures, are they not? So there is considerably uncertainty here.

But let’s not get misled – the total fertility rate is considerably higher. This is due to the fact that there are many more young breeding people than there would be in a stable population age structure.

We see the same thing in Australia, where we have a personal fertility rate of about 1.8, but a national birthrate that is still well above replacement level.

So population stabilisation is not going to be achieved any time soon. Well… not by anything non-catastrophic at least.

Then we’ve got to realise that we are so far over the sustainable limits that we really need to quickly get ourselves onto a track of a steadily reducing population.

And then we need to note that per-capita consumption and hence pressure on environment and resource base is constantly increasing, and would continue to do so if we achieved a stable population.

Well, I guess it’s time to put my big dark heavy hat back on, forego the holiday, and go mope in the corner for the rest of my life. (:> (

Okaaay, now I'll repost that WITHOUT the oblivious sh!thead typos...that the spell-checker doesn't pick up.... and that evade several proof-reads ):<{
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Fantastic stuff DEMOS. Now I can take off my ‘we will all be rooned by continuous population growth’ hat and go take a long luvly holiday, with the knowledge that our future is safe and that a sustainable ecological footprint for all of humanity is just around the corner.

Oh what a wonderful feeling! ( :> )
.
.
.
Oh uh, hold on a minute. Let’s take a closer look…

The net reproduction rate has dropped below replacement level… apparently… although there is no supporting evidence.

Andrew Leonard’s table suggests that the global fertility rate is current about 1.11 and slowly but steadily declining.

NRR and GFR are the same or very similar measures, are they not? So there is considerable uncertainty here.

But let’s not get misled – the total fertility rate is considerably higher. This is due to the fact that there are many more young breeding people than there would be in a stable population age structure.

We see the same thing in Australia, where we have a personal fertility rate of about 1.8, but a national birthrate that is still well above replacement level.

So population stabilisation is not going to be achieved any time soon. Well… not by anything non-catastrophic at least.

Then we’ve got to realise that we are so far over the sustainable limits that we really need to quickly get ourselves onto a track of a steadily reducing population.

And then we need to note that per-capita consumption and hence pressure on environment and resource base is constantly increasing.

Well, I guess it’s time to put my big dark heavy hat back on, forego the holiday, and go mope in the corner for the rest of my life. (:> (

Not a ray of light at all.. but more an omen of darkness.

Hidden in these figures are:

-Some segments of the population are growing RAPIDLY .. more than the rest. (this follows religious lines)

-Asian countries simply do not have the Western outlook of reducing population which is reflected in those figures.

CONCLUSION.

1/ The West will be infiltrated by high fertility migrants, who in time will have the numbers to call the shots.
2/ The population pressures of Asian countries will be so strong, that the West may be 'guilt tripped' into accepting vast numbers of 'ecological' refugees.
3/ We are doomed :) (thats for Ludwig)

Ray of light you say,lol and where is this ray of light!? I will pick box number three. Only those in the world of reality will see no light. That's right people, keep thinking.

The West will be infiltrated by high fertility migrants, who in time will have the numbers to call the shots.
Yep! I have witnessed this phenomenon 40 years ago in Europe. There was so much emphasis on Education that no young people entered the manual workforce. to overcome this lack of labour it had to be imported. It's identical to what's happening in Australia. Sadly, none of the "experts" are capable of seeing it because they're all too educated. People get educated beyond their level of comprehension and then get into the public service where they get promoted to their level of incompetence.
In Europe, the descendants of the guest workers are now citizens of the country and they get into politics. it's very much like that here now too and in Fiji. there is no evidence that immigrants have the interest of the adoptive society at heart. It nearly always the opposite. How do I know ? I've been there'n done that.