Fortunately, a future of scarcity and conflict is not inevitable. Experts point to stabilizing the population as the key step. Solving the problem of population growth will then help solve the environmental, economic and social problems we confront.

Interestingly, solving current environmental, economic, and social problems will help solve the problem of population growth. As the United Nations Conference on Population and Development reported, "Efforts to slow population growth, to reduce poverty, to achieve economic progress, to improve environmental protection, and to reduce unsustainable consumption and production patterns are mutually reinforcing."

On a personal level, there are a number of things each of us can do. Most importantly, we can consider our own fertility. This is especially important for citizens of industrialized countries, because people in those countries have larger ecological footprints, due to lifestyles ad consumption levels.

We can lower our own consumption and environmental impacts by making informed choices about how we live, and what we own and use. Consumer preference is tremendously powerful in shaping product manufacturing and marketing, and is already beginning to transform many corporations.

There are also a number of structural solutions to lower population growth rates. An important structural solution to population growth is universal access to reproductive health care. If every couple in the world could reliably and affordably choose the number and spacing of their children, world population growth would slow by nearly 20 percent almost immediately.

Investment in community health care is also necessary. Adequate health care would significantly reduce infant, child and maternal mortality, and allow community members to be more socially and economically productive. In some parts of the world, parents expect one or more of their children to die of hunger or disease. If they have a reasonable expectation that their children will survive and be healthy, they won’t need "extra" children to offset those deaths.

Educating and empowering women is extremely important. Women with higher levels of education tend to marry later, bear children later, and have fewer, and healthier, children. More educated women generally have higher incomes, more economic options, and more power in their families and communities.

We can support structural solutions that stabilize population through voting and active participation in the political process. While individuals can't implement political and structural solutions on their own, they can help raise awareness, promote discussion, and influence local, regional and national policies. Many of these solutions can be implemented at state, county, city, or even neighborhood levels, through land use actions and budget priorities and allocations. Many are already being implemented at some level around the world. Individuals can support and contribute to groups involved in that work, lobby their representatives to support and fund that work, and join in that work as volunteers.

We know that these solutions work. Since 1950, total fertility has fallen 50 percent worldwide. Infant mortality has declined by more than half in the last 35 years, and average longevity has increased from 45 to 65 years. More people are literate, more live under democratic governments, and more environmentally sensitive areas and threatened species are under some sort of protection.

The choices we make in the next few decades about our own numbers and lifestyles will determine whether the world of the 21st century will be one of hope and opportunity, or of scarcity and destruction.

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