If we don't halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be done for us by nature, brutally and without pity - and will leave a ravaged world.
Nobel Laureate Dr. Henry W. Kendall
At the time of the signing of the US Constitution the World's population was one billion. At the turn of the last century it had reached a shade over one and a half billion. When John F. Kennedy became President in 1960 the population stood at 3 billion; 39 years later in 1999 it hit six billion and at the end of 2010 it will be seven billion. Demographers have projected that in 2050 the population will be 9.5 billion. However based on the current rate of growth (1.17 %/year) the population less than a decade later, in 2059, will be 12 billion. This means that from the beginning of the 20th century until 2060 World population will have increased eight fold. At some point in the not to distant future, some hard nosed decisions will have to be made and realistic, effective action will have to be undertaken.
Limiting population by voluntary compliance would be the ideal – and the least likely to be effective. Much less popular but more effective is legal compliance with strict consequences for the non-compliant. The third option is to let the immutable laws of ecology have their way and there will be a rapid, and very messy, reduction in population.
New innovations and improved technology will stave off the inevitable for a while – but it will only be a temporary reprieve without a stabilization of the population.
The population problem will be complicated by the decrease in arable land, depletion of raw materials and availability of fresh water . Global warming, be it natural or anthropogenic, will further complicate the problem. And, perhaps the greatest obstacle to a comprehensive program to control population will be the vested interests. The uber-wealthy, the faceless corporate drones, and the inevitable religious fundamentalists, all of whom are addicted to their power “drug” and will fight any real or perceived threat to it, using their bought and pliant “lawmakers” and the occasional army.
If there is a solution to this it escapes me – I'm afraid option 3 will be the default choice.