Population Limits - it would solve so many problems. It really would. If we could limit our population to 1 billion, we'd solve so many environmental problems. We'd be able to raise the standard of living for so many people. We don't need to have such a huge population to be rich - the US has less than China, but it is still richer than China, and even if China because as rich as the US (as it will, soon enough), it will still have a TON of poor people because China has too many people. It simply CAN'T provide a decent standard of living to THAT many people.
With 7 billion people, we can't give a "western" style life to all of them. If we limited our population to 1 billion or even less, then we potentially could.
I favour a 2 child per couple limit. You might think that would just "Stabilize" the population, but in fact, if you wanted to stabilize the population your birth rate would have to be somewhere along the lines of 2.3 per couple. Having it at a flat 2.0 will slowly, but surely, bring down the population. This will occur slowly enough so that we can adjust society.
Having less people means more resources for everyone else. No one would have to die, people could still have children. The change would not be drastic either.
But wait! If we have less people, won't our economy suffer!? Not necessarily! Again - look at the US. Less people, yet richer than China. And although you may not believe it, US manufacturing is still going quite strong - it's just that the jobs are declining because more and more of the workers are being replaced by robots and machines. A US factory today is 100 times more efficient than a US factory in the 1950s and employs a 10th of the workforce. Japan is still a huge economic entity despite shrinking population. Because of TECHNOLOGY. The idea that you have to have a lot of people in order to be rich is wrong. Okay, you do need a certain number of people, but you don't have to have a huge population. These days, having a huge population is a liability.
A 2.0 birth rate for everyone in the world would be the best thing that ever happened to this world. But of course, no one would ever go for it. People want the right to have as many children as they want, regardless of the impact that would have on the future. If we limited our population, we'd solve hunger, pollution, joblessness, and significantly cut back on poverty. But we won't. We won't.
