I predicated my post on things we know to be true.
*You* conclude we are "in overshoot". That position is not generally accepted as true.
You assume that should we change the pace of development for energy impoverished nations, that this would not impact the population growth before we hit 10B. That may or may not be true, but I don't think it is the default assumption we must use to approach the matter since it presupposes there is no solution and therefore no attempt need be made. In a search for solutions it has no affirmative place in the discussion.
You say we need to reduce our population to 1-3 B. Again, that is speculation that amounts to little more than a made up number. It sounds good, but since we don't know the impact that humans living a "truly sustainable" lifestyle would have we can't possibly extrapolate what the "truly sustainable" population might be, right?
In short, why not help try to solve the problem?
ETA: Brainfart Alert
I took your post as a reply to one I made earlier this afternoon. My reply is still largely valid if I include that text:
The way I think the population/resource issue will play out.
There is no question that in the modern world population expansion is driven by conditions associated with undeveloped societies. We can leave aside specific reasons for this discussion.
There is no question that post industrial societies are characterized by population contraction. Again, we can leave aside specific reasons for this discussion.
There is no question that global resources critical to maintaining a human friendly ecosystem are strained and poorly understood in any comprehensive sense.
We are bringing more of the world into the sphere of societies that experience declining populations.
War, economic collapse or events like that do not accomplish the goal of altering population growth trends, over time as their effect tends to get cancelled by following rebound effects.
That makes it a race to, in sustainable fashion, bring lagging societies to a level that results in declining birth rates before we irreversibly alter our ecosystem to the point of inhabitability.
The foundation of that effort is continued acquisition of knowledge about sustainable development and deployment of those infrastructures throughout the world.
At the present time, supporting development that continues to make renewable energy more affordable for the societies struggling with massive energy poverty is one the most concrete steps you can take to help accelerate the transition to global population reduction.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1127&pid=15431
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