Fantastic post! As an psychology student very interested in the relationship between the mind and ecology, I was very grateful for the references to several experts in this field. I'd be interested to hear more about research relevant to ecopsychology.

You may also be interested in watching Dan Gilbert's recent discussion of the psychology behind global warming. Our understanding of the human mind may help us to understand how we can achieve change in the future. He claims,

"The fact is that climate change, if it were caused by gay sex, or caused by the practice of eating puppies, millions of Americans would right now be massing on the street insisting that the administration do something about it."

A very entertaining video to watch if you get the chance. The link is http://www.poptech.com/popcasts/popcasts.aspx?lang=&viewcastid=163. Thanks for shedding some light on this fascinating topic. I enthusiastically support your proposition for a voluntary five year ban!

I wonder if perhaps you'd have had such radical angry comments if you'd suggested a worldwide limit of one child per couple over 10 years instead.

It's still depressing to see how many people, on what I'd have thought would have been an above average intellect site , cannot see the difference between a suggestion of a voluntary pause on making babies, and jamming a rusty coathanger up every woman on the planet while throwing every baby into a flaming spiked pit.

SEE MY HOMEPAGE for how the overpopulation movement can face US political reality and clear the first hurdle. Basically overpopulation activists must engage in political migration to concentrate into a local majority and then use heavy municipal contraception funding to eliminate public school taxes.
Only political migration can turn a minority into a majority the way the gays like Harvey Milk did it in Frisco and Provincetown. Do you think all those gays were BORN in Frisco???? How has gay migration effected class size and school taxes in Frisco and Provincetown???

and am looking forward to future installments on the topic. part of what happens on this topic is that someone (in this case, you) gets fired up, gets a good idea, and then has to move on to more important or other, topics - in order to make a living, let's say. Please stick with this topic, it's that important!

Also, a few groups are doing great work in this area - Americans for UNFPA, Population Connection - http://www.populationconnection.org - and the Population Media Center in Vermont - which teaches through soap operas and radio serials around the world.

I guess I'm more pessimistic than others, realistic I'd say, but surely called a pessimist by most. When it comes to human reproduction, people simply won't change. Even if we could somehow fund and educate the areas of the world with excessive reproduction, long term population reduction would lead to huge economic problems.

Growth is required to fuel the economic engine that human life is now dependant on. Companies and govt's require growth to survive. If they aren't growing, they're shrinking, and shrinking means less money for all. That's why countries with negative population growth are so eager to expand immigration to fill the gap. You need a growing population of young people to pay taxes for support of older, among other things. You need a growing company to pay the massive salaries at the top. You can argue this shouldn't be, reason should rule, but it's a fact of life that will not change. Economic growth is a drug, and it's bought from population growth.

So the concerns of business and gov't will trump those of the earth. Worse, I can see us humans demanding for it. A long term economic crisis based on our own conscious action of population reduction would lead to never-before-seen drops in the stock market, worse than we see now, and massive layoffs. A handful of people might understand this as much needed medicine to get our population back on track, a few generations and then tight population control and we'd be OK, but most won't. Most people would vote to reverse any changes made, jobs for all through growth, and we'd be back to being baby-machines in no time.

I'm sorry to say but we're doomed. I'm just thankful SH_T's not going to hit the fan until after I kick the bucket.

I'm never having children. I'm 32 and have never, nor will ever have a baby. Sex is for the purpose of procreation. I don't do that either. I wasn't always this way but after 13 years I REALLY don't miss it. If it wasn't plastered all over the place I would never even know it existed. There are so many great inventions for injoyment in our modern world (at least in the United States), and all of it would be so much more fun if there were less people to share it all with. I hate the tree huggers who tell me to drive a Hybrid and use one sheet of toilet paper. I want small communities, big muscle cars and all the good things that every one who works hard deserves. By the way I own a Prius and I'm paying taxes for all of my tenants who are on some sort of government aid, and don't forget the schools all their kids attend, all the senior citizens and apartment owners in the area are taking care of that too. Every time one of my tenants who can barely make the rent informs me that they are pregnant, I really feel sick inside. People are so selfish and unaware of their actions. I'm not keen on government control but family memebers should at least have some rights when it comes to inforcing birth control on mentally ill loved ones. This should definatly apply to women and men who are addicted to drugs. Most people are not gifted with common sence, and will not do any thing unless forced to for fear of punishment. Is there even enough souls to hand out to all these people, perhaps that's why some people are so damn inconsiderate. I'm assuming mother nature will eventually take care of it all.