According to recent statistics, the human population of planet Earth will exceed 7,000,000,000 (seven billion) in another month to two months. In perspective, there are now fewer Tigers in the wild than there are in zoos in the USA... around 5,000. The line of extinction blurs with loss of habitat, replaced by of vibrancy of the DNA (preserved in umbilical stem cells)...
The best video on the subject of population growth remains BBC's Hans Rosling's,
200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
The key to his video is that no country (USA) is declining. Neighboring countries are catching up. In terms of international comparison, there is less difference between poor and rich nations today than there was 75 years ago.
The plan is that as the statistics on international well being level out, that the birth rate will level out, and that we may be approaching a "soft landing" as far as survival of humans and life on earth. If we are going to survive this "soft landing", then we should start to protect the other species and planetary diversity. Otherwise, we may survive Noah's flood, but we may have nothing but picture books of coral reefs and rain forests and savannahs to show our kids.
I for one think that internet access is important to the soft landing. The video shows that human progress helps humanity on the whole. As the old threats to our lifespan decline, we invent new concerns about "toxics" and "vaccinations".
The key measure is not population, but the net common sense of the population.
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