Throughout history, both real and manufactured issues related to population have often been used to justify racism, exploitation, and worse. This means that any discussion of population issues today must be particularly sensitive and we must always be aware of the potential for such discussions to be misused by those with other agendas. At the same time, however, this is not a topic we can afford to ignore either, especially as human impact on the environment is continuing to accelerate, and the planet's ability to support its human population in being reduced.
There is no question that humans have already exceeded the carrying capacity of the planet, or that our actions are continuing to reduce that carrying capacity even further. That fact alone, however, does not necessarily mean that the planet is overpopulated. It just means that we are consuming renewable resources at a faster rate than they can be replenished and we are generating waste at a faster rate than it can be absorbed by the planet, even as we are rapidly depleting our non-renewable resources. In other words, we are not living sustainably.
