So you see the current population (and the even larger population ina few years time) is perfectly ok and that the planet can support all these people in a decent standard of living, along with decent populations of most of the remaining other life that also exists here?
To be honest the future really is going to be a planet of humans with a few isolated populations of charismatic favoured species along with a couple of hundred 'pest'species eg indian mynajhs and rats, that can exist in large numbers despite humans.There are those who claim that humback whale populations jave bounced back enough to support a sustainablë" harvest , even though they are no where near the population that existed before the major period of whaling.
As resources grow even more scarce, and the population continues to grow, the demands to drill, mine, farm, log and hunt the currently protected reserves will become even stronger. If oil discovery has reached a peak, and as more people in the third world demand cars, do you think that countries like Australia will be able to hold out against multi nationals to prevent oil exploration and drilling on places like the Great Barrier Reef and our Antarctic territories?
Under Bush Junior the US Govt agreed to to mine the shale oil in the Alaskan reserves, even knowing that it would have terrible consequences on caribou herds. I don't know if that went ahead but it will do so in the future.
Peacock I understand want you are saying about not giving up and I tell myself that everyday but as a pessimist I can't see the point. We can't even protect a small bit of bushland in suburbian Brisbane against the 'need'for another gold course. How can we possibly stop people who are desperate for food hunting the last existing population of a species.
