Guardian: The population explosion

Leo Hickman in The Guardian asks: "This year, there will be 7 billion people on Earth. But how will the planet will cope with the expanding population – and is there anything we can, or should, do to stop it?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/14/population-explosion-seven-billion

Later this year – on 31 October, to be precise – a boy will be born in a rural village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. His parents will not know it, but his birth will prove to be a considerable landmark for our species as his arrival will mark the moment when the human population reaches 7 billion.

This ominous event outlined, Hickman proceeds to outline the various shades of opinion surrounding it, ranging from the pessimistic—Ehrlich, The Population Bomb and James Lovelock, proponent of the Gaia Theory—to the optimistic, as represented by delegates to the launch of Future Agenda (authoured by Brit Dr Tim Jones) in Istanbul. Carl Haub is offered the final voice in Hickman's survey... His analysis is mixed, but probably more realistic.

As an insight into current streams of thinking about the environmental future, the article is definitely well worth a read. Do it.