What do you think we should do about overpopulation?

When I was born nearly 7 decades ago, Earth’s population was approaching 2.3 billion. Today it stands at 7.17 billion and counting. It’s clear our planet’s resources are finite. Overpopulation and overconsumption will either have to be managed soon, or the consequences in resource depletion, global warming, widespread famine, and resource wars will do the managing for us. Surely there is a better, less painful way to limit population than through global food wars and driving the climate to the point we face massive crop failures.

According to this graph, the US reached Peak Chicken in 2005, topping out with nearly 7 chickens in every pot. There are 20 billion chickens in the world today, and the graph of chicken population growth from 1970 to today, show that the chicken population growth curve is beginning to flatten, suggesting that we are approaching Peak Chicken. While all farm animal sectors have expanded, production of no other farm animal has grown so explosively as have chickens. But cattle farming has grown too, reaching around 1.3 billion head in 2013. Pig farming is growing even faster. As if that wasn’t enough head, with the growth of the cow and sow population comes a necessary growth in bull and boar population, which means a concomitant growth in BS production, and that’s no bull.

How can we best manage human population growth so that we don’t outgrow our planet’s ability to support human life? What do you think we should do about overpopulation?