The problem is that there are too many people
 

When I think about pollution and the social ills the world has it occurs to me that much of it is caused because there are too many people. If there were a lot fewer people driving cars we would not have air pollution. In areas where the population is sparse they don't have emission inspections. Denser populated area have a higher crime rate than those areas with fewer people. Fewer people needing electricity would mean less coal burning. And so on. We had a lot fewer issues when we an agrarian society. So what drives us in this direction? Corporations needing more consumers for more profits? China recognizes this over population issue therefor it limits the birth rate. Maybe that is what is needed. Japan's population is actually predicted to decrease significantly because people there are not having children. Maybe this whole thing will eventually take care of itself.

Inefficient use of vehicles without any local government oversight = too many cars and trucks in city centers.

China pumping out cheap goods and the world sopping them up = unchecked industrial pollution output.

China has eased its one child policy. Both China and Japan, and Germany are in big trouble as their populations age rapidly.

As Motion stated, there are countries with shrinking populations and they are very concerned about their own future, some practically begging their citizens to make babies.

On the other hand, yes, some of the urban centers are too crowded.

The other thing you have to consider is that in most parts of the world, the cultures could care less about cleanliness and conserving resources. IMHO, 90% of the world is a complete dump. The governments and people don't care one bit about having quiet, clean cities and conserving resources. They are hell-bent on accumulating wealth, which you cannot fault them for at all. Cheap Chinese products and cheaper energy have allowed that to happen.

Do you have a modest proposal ?

LOL, well....

Electric autonomous or ride-sharing cars & trucks mandated (increasing scale year-to-year) by local governments would go a long ways.

Bicycle share systems installations would also help a lot.

Time... as the developing world achieves parity, they will begin to address their shortcomings.

Ban all believers from using airplanes. All future climate conferences will be done over skype, not flying a bunch of hypocrites into tropical locales for a 0.5%er party, paid for by everyone else.

We don't need less people. We need more earth.

We need a good epidemic!

You mean pandemic.

You can tell most posters here don't drive across country. They take to the air. There is actually plenty of land and resources for more people yet.

fenatyl started to thin the herd up here.
in Vancouver, property valuations just went up 30%, for property tax purposes.
the extra tax dollars generated are being used to administer narcan.
the first thing the addict does upon being brought back to life?
you guessed it. off to look for more fenatyl.

the mayor has also decided that the drug addicts deserve water front condos. the tax payer is on the hook.
meanwhile, working stiffs are paying 2500/month to rent a decent studio apartment.

IMO, We're on borrowed time. I really hate to make predictions but at some point something huge (Non conventional war)
will happen and the worlds population will be devastated and nothing will be the same afterwards.

I really hope I'm wrong but looking at the state of the planets politics I can see no other long term outcome.

No worries.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/...-Earth-012.jpg

^^^this

I've never been to India or China but I don't understand how they've been able to have a vastly larger population than the rest of the planet without there being a huge pandemic or starvation to bring their population closer to the rest of the planet. It leads me to believe the planet can sustain significantly more people than it does now.

The population growth rates in the last couple hundred years is so much larger than it had been for the previous thousands of years that we may quickly find out what the maximum population is.

The entire planet's population could fit in the state of Texas, if NYC people density were possible there.

The issue is, as I see it, that most of the world's governments allow unchecked development and do not have stringent controls on what is developed. Because of this, you see absolutely insane use of land over much of the world.

Global population is expected to rise to about 13 billion by the end of this century, mostly due to sub-Saharan African growth.

whatever happened to ZPG?

A lot of what drives this is the spread between the haves and the have nots. The top .01% do anything they want to accumulate more while the rest do anything they can to survive.
India is living proof of what happens when no systems, other than letting everyone do whatever, are in place.