> Pvthur@aol.com wrote: ...allowing our population to grow beyond all
> natural bounds. As we approach the big 10 billion, something has to give...
I propose the thing that must give is our comically inefficient way we use land. I flew over the US today, New York to Dallas to San Jose. It was clear and I spent most of my trip looking at the ground and marvelling, as I often do when I make that ride, at how *empty* is most of this country. The population is highly concentrated along rivers. Look at it next time you fly over. There are huuuuge expanses of open land, with plenty of water, growing things that are of no direct benefit to humans, such as scrubby non-lumber trees. The riverbank land is subject to flooding, whereas all that good sloping land is nearly untouched.
We can transform this planet into a place where 50 billion technologically advanced humans could live, in great comfort, not overly crowded, all well fed and cared for, if we would just build smart, and get with it on developing food production techniques that are more efficient than the ones we now use. spike