Is the Planet Full?

What are the impacts of population growth? Can our planet support the demands of the ten billion people anticipated to be the world's population by the middle of this century? While it is common to hear about the problems of overpopulation, might there be unexplored benefits of increasing numbers of people in the world? How can we both consider and harness the potential benefits brought by a healthier, wealthier and larger population? May more people mean more scientists to discover how our world works, more inventors and thinkers to help solve the world's problems, more skilled people to put these ideas into practice? In this book, leading academics with a wide range of expertise in demography, philosophy, biology, climate science, economics and environmental sustainability explore the contexts, costs and benefits of a burgeoning population on our economic, social and environmental systems.1. Introduction ; 2. Optimum Population, Welfare Economics, and Inequality ; 3. Overpopulation or Underpopulation? ; 4. Demographic and Environmental Transitions ; 5. Towards a Contemporary Understanding of the Limits to Growth ; 6. How can 9-10 Billion People be Fed Sustainably and Equitably by 2050? ; 7. Water Scarcity on a Blue Planet ; 8. The Metabolism of a Human-Dominated Planet ; 9. Safe, Effective, and Affordable Health Care for a Bulging Population ; 10. Sourcing Mineral Resources: Problems and Solutions ; 11. Governance Matters Most