During the past 100 years, there have been many differing estimates of the Earths carrying capacity. How can you judge between them?
Many estimates of the Earth’s carrying capacity (for maximum human population) were based on absurd premises, such as that everyone would live on a vegetarian diet. OPT’s estimates are based on what it believes to be more realistic assumptions – namely that developed nations can curtail their energy use, and that the half of the world that suffers from malnutrition and poverty needs to increase its consumption. However, OPT’s estimates of the Earth’s carrying capacity still indicate that a substantial long-term reduction in world population is necessary. There are two reasons why recent estimates carry far more weight than previous ones. The first is that excessive carbon dioxide emissions impose definite restrictions on the number of people who can live on Earth, at a specified per capita emission rate. That is true unless we can switch to renewable energy. That brings us to the second reason for improved reliability. Much work has been done in establishing the ecological footprint as
