Today's Living Planet Report details the ongoing destruction of our natural environment, writes Alistair Currie. One solution that is necessary, realistic, ethical and ultimately unavoidable is to reduce the pressure on our planet caused by population growth.
Global food production may need to double over the next century to feed a growing world population, writes Tim Radford - just as yields crops in major crop-growing areas fall due to higher temperatures. But there is another way: to build sustainability into our food production and consumption.
A future of green abundance for all is possible, writes Glen Barry. Instead we are mired in the destruction of the Earth's vital ecosystems, divided by obscene wealth and shameful poverty, and pitted against each other in genocidal wars over energy, resources and global dominance. To make that alternative a living reality, we must shed our fears and come together in common purpose.
Rewilding landscapes impoverished by human exploitation enriches nature and brings back life to an increasingly ravaged world, writes Jessica Rothwell. But more than that, it's a vital step in making human existence sustainable in the long term, depending as we do on our planet's functional ecosystems for our health and survival. It's time for people to pull back - and make space for the wild.
We have a problem, writes Samuel Alexander. Even the most eco-friendly rich world lifestyles are overconsuming resources and over-dumping wastes. To put us on track to 'single planet living' will mean far deeper changes than any yet envisaged, including deliberate 'degrowth'' and the abandonment of consumer culture.
There are no good reasons for not acting on population and migration, writes Simon Ross. It's time to tackle the issues head on and openly to challenge the excuses for doing nothing - or for acting only indirectly to reduce population growth, by raising the status of women in high fertility countries.
Of course rising world population matters, writes Biff Vernon, due to its impact on the planet and its resources. But to actually do something about it, don't even mention the 'p' word. Instead let's cut back on our wasteful, high-consumption lifestyles - and empower women everywhere!
The dominant story about the future of the world food supply is logical, well known and widely disseminated, writes Jonathan Foley. It is also completely wrong.
Robin Maynard tells the Ecologist why he is trying to encourage environmental NGOs to have the courage to move beyond a politically correct stance on issues of population growth and really engage with the big questions......
Butterfly populations are an important gauge of the health of local habitats and wider climate change. Faye Dobson explains what population changes mean, and how you can get involved in helping monitor them.
Is population really the demographic time bomb it’s portrayed as? Author Vanessa Baird sifts through the evidence and comes up with some surprising answers, says Mark Newton
Theologian Martin Palmer tells Tom Levitt how we can learn from previous man-made ecological collapses in Britain and create a 'new narrative' that challenges our dominant consumer culture
The next world population milestone of 8 billion will come sooner than we think - perhaps as early as 2025 - yet we remain reluctant to debate the issue. A forthcoming Royal Society report may force us to
A new Forum for the Future report outlines radical ways in which British - and worldwide - cities need to reinvent transport infrastructures to deal with excessive populations
Seoul, host of this year's G20, is well on the way to achieving its goal of becoming one of the world's most eco-friendly cities. But, as Anna Sheldrick reports, there may be room for improvement elsewhere in South Korea
Argentinean academic and activist Raul Montenegro on why indigenous people hold the keys to survival, why GM technologies only profit big business and how nuclear power ignores the rights of future generations
Although the rise of mega-cities raises disturbing questions about living standards and livelihoods, the spread of city living is not all bad, says Tom Hodgkinson
Environmental journalist Fred Pearce, author of the new book Peoplequake, on why overconsumption is the key issue, the need for relaxed immigration laws, and why men should look after children
