We’re no different. Eventually, the environment will change (with our contribution) in a way that limits the growth of the human population. That’s what life is. That’s what life does.

Not pollyanna, but trying to take along term view

Some other points
Population : I brought up the eventual decline in conversation last night, pending demographic “brick wall” in various countries

Farmers : European families leaving farming in North America, Hispanics are the new farmers.

Forests – I’ll post on that sometime, we own a woodlot and we manage it for diversity and long term growth. Working with others to do the same.

The amount of forest is growing in the US, but the author you quote doesn’t cover what it used to be.

We’re at 1.17 million square miles of forest now, but in 1491 we had 1.5 million square miles ( 1 billion acres, so we’re still down by 33%.

Of course even back then that forested land was heavily managed: the population at the time was 1/6 to 1/10th of today’s 300 million. But that management style still led to diverse forests, not monoculture row-crops seen in many “forested” tree plantations.

The question we should ask is to what degree biodiversity has been maintained. If the land only has one type of tree and not much else, it’s not a very habitable place for all the bacteria, bugs and weeds that make up the base of the food chain in a given area, supporting greater numbers (diversity-wise) of the charismatic creatures that end up as the face of environmentalism.

We humans have been really lucky – for the last 10,000 years or so we’ve had relatively tame weather. (There’s a reason ol’ Oog and Moog didn’t live on the seashore…) So, we think things will always be this way.

If it’s “going to happen anyway” shouldn’t we be getting prepared? (Duh-oh.)

Of course, I look out (as I’m typing this) on a 10,000 ft. high pile of granite and limestone, topped with ancient seabed (the Sandias) so I have a good perspective whack right there in front of me every day. I think the Earth at best tolerates us – in any event, one of these days we’ll be just another funky image in the rock (if we’re lucky – 90% of the species that ever lived didn’t make it into the fossil record.)

As for agriculture, I’m more concerned about water. There’s only so much and that’s it. We’re composed of and drink the same H20 that the dinosaurs were and did.

‘cuse me, I’ve got to go put another layer of paint on my soapbox…

I’m wondering what happens if the next generation can’t feed itself from it’s own homeland. What about importing food with imported energy? What happens when food security shifts from an individual issue to a national one?