The Population-Resources issue i.e. the scale of the economy as depicted by the following equation
The industrialised, consumption-based, throwaway economy of the North, is eating the planet alive. And we are poisoning it at the same time, accounting for over two-thirds of the greenhouse gases and virtually all the poisons dumped into the rivers, oceans and seas.
The recent strong growth of China and now India, with their populations of 1.3 billion and 1 billion respectively in 2005, poses the risk of accelerating global pollution, climate change and ultimate collapse of humanity.
The South, on the other hand, although barely making a scratch on the surface of the planet in terms of consumption of its resources, is suffocating the Earth through sheer population numbers.
Over population, coupled with the South's poverty, leads to deforestation and land degradation. Deforestation increases carbon dioxide, the principle greenhouse gas. Also, rice paddies and domestic cattle - the food supply for two and a half billion people - are a major source of methane, another greenhouse gas even more noxious that combine to cause global warming. It's a more honest form of pollution than the North's, but pollution all the same.
Some will argue that Southerners outnumber Northerners by ten to one already and that population dismantlement 'across the board' would be unfair to the North. The answer to that is that one Northerner does as much damage to the Earth as ten Southerners.
To avoid the collapse of humanity, it is imperative that the rich countries reduce their consumption of resources and that the poor countries reduce the growtht of their population. See views on this issue.
