Some of the people here probably ought to read this one:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/26/world-population-resources-paul-ehrlich
Quote:
The world's most renowned population analyst has called for a massive reduction in the number of humans and for natural resources to be redistributed from the rich to the poor.
Paul Ehrlich, Bing professor of population studies at Stanford University in California and author of the best-selling Population Bomb book in 1968, goes much further than the Royal Society in London which this morning said that physical numbers were as important as the amount of natural resources consumed.
Link to this audio
The optimum population of Earth – enough to guarantee the minimal physical ingredients of a decent life to everyone – was 1.5 to 2 billion people rather than the 7 billion who are alive today or the 9 billion expected in 2050, said Ehrlich in an interview with the Guardian.
"How many you support depends on lifestyles. We came up with 1.5 to 2 billion because you can have big active cities and wilderness. If you want a battery chicken world where everyone has minimum space and food and everyone is kept just about alive you might be able to support in the long term about 4 or 5 billion people. But you already have 7 billion. So we have to humanely and as rapidly as possible move to population shrinkage." .....
This guy is the author of "The Population Bomb", one of the key philosophical cornerstones of Gaea worship. I.e. this guy is part of the brain trust.
I mean, a left-leaning, Gaea-worshiping yuppie who didn't know better might think he was more or less cool living in some quasi-urban area where he didn't really need a car, having 1.7 children, and generally doing politically correct things.... Nonetheless if Ehrlich is talking about there still being poor to redistribute wealth to after the great paring down, then our hypothetical yuppie can't really assume that it's just the poor who get pared down; he has to assume that odds are that the Gaea crowd is ultimately coming for him too.
Also of interest:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/25/the-simon-erlich-wager-at-seven-billion-people/