According to the United Nations, the World's population reached
7 billion people on October 31st. Well, maybe not exactly on
Monday; the US Census Bureau estimates that it will happen
sometime in March next year. But let's not quibble over the
date: the UN has never been very good at forecasts, especially
of the future. For decades, it has claimed that the rising tide
of humanity would overwhelm the environment and lead to food
shortages - unless urgent action is taken to stem the tide. And
for decades it has been wrong: Per capita food production has
been rising and the environment generally improving. Meanwhile,
when "urgent action" has been taken, in the form of forced
sterilisations, for example, or China's one child policy, the
result has been grotesque violations of human rights. But still
the UN persists. The most recent version of its apocalyptic
story goes like this - Population growth and rising wealth will
result in a perfect storm of increasing demand for food and
increased emissions of carbon dio