How Many People Can the Earth Support? (1998)

... I hope to offer a perspective that differs from the views of those who say that rapid population growth is no problem at all and those who say that population growth is the only problem. A rounded view of the facts should immunize us against both cornucopians and doomsayers. I give more details in my recent book How Many People Can the Earth Support? ...

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1998/10/08/how-many-people-can-the-earth-support/

Paywall: https://archive.is/E5AB8

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How Many People Can the Earth Support? (1998)

Paywall: https://archive.is/E5AB8

Cohen is the leading authority on Earth's poplation limits and carrying capacity. He's the first to say that the question and answer are complicated, but that does not mean that there are no limits.

In his book, How many people can the earth support?, Cohen visits many estimates and/or claims regarding carrying capacity and explores the assumptions or logic behind many of these, which range from a low of about 100 million to highs over 12 trillion. Most such estimates cluster around 1--10 billion, and seem more credible than outliers, especially of the high-end group.

https://www.worldcat.org/title/how-many-people-can-the-earth-support/oclc/898942239

https://archive.org/details/howmanypeoplecan00cohe

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28904625

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