Sizsigmasuck, your childish reponses do nothing but lower other people's opinions of you. If you can't post an informed, mature response, why bother?

dermotmoconnor, surely carrying capacity depends on lifestyles and cannot be simplified down to one magical number?

Thankyou dermotmoconnor.

A criticism of the Green Revolution does not equal an argument that the world is overpopulated. But we have to recognise that there are two very important factors:
1) how many people there are
2) what sort of lifestyles they lead (ie how much pressure they put on natural resources)

And the tough reality for Western people is that we are part of the 20% of the world's population that uses 80% of the world's resources.

So the problem is not population but lifestyle - OUR lifestyles. And yes, the major benefactors of the Green Revolution are....us.

The Green Revolution is an ultimately unsustainable project because it is based on the premise of cheap, abundant oil.

The effects have been an unsustainable growth in the world's population and all the environmental impacts that they bring, overuse of pesticides to the detriment of biodiversity, the "spongefying" of arable land as every last drop of crop is dragged from it, the loss of thousands of agricultural jobs and the ensuing emptying-out of rural areas, the industrialisation of the entire agricultural sector and the growth of the agro-multinationals, the lowering of animal welfare standards, the production of ridiculously cheap food and has definitely contributed to obesity.

Thanks a lot..