[ok-sus] Pathways to collapse: can we intervene

[Kerry Lund]

One way would be, take an inventory of our resources.  We know we 
need about three thousand cubic meters of water per person per 
year.  A meter is close to a yard.  Three thousand cubic yards of 
water per person per year.  And we need about an acre of fertile land 
per person.  We can calculate the amount of rain we get and the 
amount of groundwater  and surface water we have.  These two numbers 
are for food only.  If we want any housing, transportation, 
electronics, clothing, etc, those resources are additional.  We 
should be able to take an inventory.  Of the remaining patches of 
forest.  Of the remaining fish. Of the remaining groundwater.

We do not need the three thousand cubic meters of water and the acre 
of land in our backyard.  Most of that is used to grow food.  Water 
and land can be transported in the form of food.

Once we have the inventory, we can decide the lifestyle we would like 
to lead, and then divide the lifestyle into the inventory.

That is the  sustainable number of people.

The bad news is that if we want to reduce the human footprint by 
fertility reduction only, it takes 60 years.  That is why China's 
population is still growing after all these years.

Kerry