[hillsidedigger]

Oil depletion is not even mentioned in this discussion of the next 40 years!
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/ ... zig-text/1

[Ibon]

The article stated this is the first of a series of articles. The article was good if only for that graph on population growth. That and similar graphs really is a visual way for the uninformed to get hit with a sense that the times we live in is an anomaly. But I also I saw immediately no mention of peak oil or the role of oil on that population boom. We'll see what this series of articles bring.

[vtsnowedin]

There is this quote about fossil fuels.

“Those who say the whole problem is population are wrong,” Joel Cohen says. “It’s not even the dominant factor.” To stop global warming we’ll have to switch from fossil fuels to alternative energy—regardless of how big the population gets.

This assumes that there is enough alternative energy to support eight billion people. That may well be the question of the century.