http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-many-people-can-the-world-support/
ok, yes know I am getting a bit to in to the subject.
Will give it a break, but this link from every one I put here speaks for me.
And its local.
Well still stunned that the symptoms of over population seem hidden from some.
And they include poverty death for want of food and clean water.
in my view.
I find it hard not to fear end results.
My seemingly scatter brain concerns at dictatorship are to me realistic.
Wars have been fought over far less.

The Chinese famine 1958-1962 was the result of Mao's Great Sparrow Campaign. Google this as many sources come online. Tinkering with ecological balance is always disastrous.

“ The masses of China were mobilized to eradicate the birds, and citizens took to banging pots and pans or beating drums to scare the birds from landing, forcing them to fly until they fell from the sky in exhaustion. Sparrow nests were torn down, eggs were broken, and nestlings were killed. Sparrows and other birds were shot down from the sky, resulting in the near-extinction of the birds in China.Non-material rewards and recognition were offered to schools, work units and government agencies in accordance with the volume of pests they had killed.

By April 1960, Chinese leaders realized that sparrows ate a large amount of insects, as well as grains. Rather than being increased, rice yields after the campaign were substantially decreased. Mao ordered the end of the campaign against sparrows ... .
By this time, however, it was too late. With no sparrows to eat them, locust populations ballooned, swarming the country and compounding the ecological problems already caused by the Great Leap Forward, including widespread deforestation and misuse of poisons and pesticides. Ecological imbalance is credited with exacerbating the Great Chinese Famine in which upwards of 30 million people died of starvation. “

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign

As a general rule, famine brings with it lowered birth-rates. During the war when food was very scarce, women ceased ovulating. Only when adequate nourishment became the norm, did ovulation resume with these women.

That link the csteel gave to TED video led me to a website;
gapminder.com. There is a free graphical display program and many
xcel files of various world statistics.
The xcel files display OK in Open Office.calc.
There is Linux as well as Apple and Windows graph program
gapminder desktop that you can load into your m/c.

The spreadsheets may solve a lot of arguments on here.

Sorry it is gapminder.org

Yes Danielle, the first thing we need is to be saved FROM great leaders. They kill millions.

Then we need to be saved from "activists scientists", who's advice to great leaders cause the killing of millions.

Yes we should stop the population growth, particularly in Oz, but not because the population can't be fed, but because we can see societal break down as over crowding grows.

Food is no problem. In my shire, we produce about a quarter of what we did 80 years ago. The effort required in high productive farming is high, & the rewards very small. No one does it around here any more, it's just not fun. However with todays technology we could easily quadruple our output, if someone was to make it worth while.

The same is true of much of Oz. International competition, with cheap freight, & the growth of the ruthless big two in food retailing has reduced the return per unit of labor to below viability.

So it is not the world that's over populated, just some bits of it. Our large cities are all ready there. It is time for us to stop. It is up to others to suit themselves, provided they don't want to call help when they stuff up.

Dear Bazz,

It is a great site isn't it and Hans is a very inspiring fellow. He has ladled quite a few dollops of optimism for the future of the globe on to my plate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8gHT3Xgz9A&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Here is a man who has an extraordinary grasp on world statistics and trends, yet he is very positive about what we have achieved so far and for what our future could be if we worked at it.

If one has a choice between doomsayers and Hans I think he wins hands down.

Dear landrights4all,

Not a member of the twitteratte I'm afraid.