Cunning Dove has knocked loose a thought.

OW!

I am ceaselessly amazed at the profusion of...stuff... that the Earth provides. Look at how many CARS have been made in 100+ years. Look at all the junk cars there are, all made of material mined from the Earth. Go to your local supermarket, and stand in awe at the magnitude of the produce there, and then realise that this is multiplied many times in your town, and then in all the cities and towns in your state, throughout all the states and territories of the Union, and then throughout all the countries on our little ball of mud and iron. All that food, cajoled, coaxed, even wrested from the dirt. Go to a superstore, look at all the things, in ceaseless proliferation. Think of all the other superstores, emporia, mom-and-pop stores, and tiendas filled with things, all made of earth-stuff.

Despite the whinging of the eco-left, the jaundiced Greens, we are not running out. Plenty of coal, iron ore, aluminum, molybdenum (yes, even molybdenum, Dr. Ehrlich.), even petroleum. Even if oil is running out -which I question- we have huge quantities of alternatives which we can convert to over time.

Unless you look at the night-lights of Earth from space, you can scarcely tell from orbit that man has made a dent on the planet. We six billion are so small, and our world is so comparatively huge.

You could fit 9141 people per square mile in the space of Alaska, the entire six billion population of the planet. NYC is far more densely populated. (I once offered this datum to a "WE are overpopulated...unsustainable...UNSUSTAINABLE!!!" person, who then asked "But why would they want to live like that?". Clearly off her meds.

Our planet is barely populated. Certain areas are very populated. The map above (2006) shows the majority of Earth as lavender,,,or is it whitish-purple? That color signifies a population density of 0-50 persons / sq. km. Yes, much of the land is in the unpopular weather regions, but the land area is there, and could be used in a pinch. Of course, one would not wish to devote arable land to high-rises. Land use planning is an important discipline.

The main issue is Earth's provenance. We are well supplied with food and materials. The starving are invariably enjoying the benevolence of corrupt regimes, where most of the West's charitable giving winds up in the warehouses of despots, and the people are not free to pursue happiness, or Jeffersonian profit.

The problem is not the Earth's. As the psalmist wrote:

Psa 24:1 "The earth is Jehovah's, and the fullness of it; the world, and those who live in it."

That's my energy and resource platform.