In an attempt to get a meaningul handle on this debate, the Ebono Institute offers the attached calculator to demonstrate what the relative impact of population growth and consumption rates are. Some of the assumptions are a little rough and ready but it graphically demonstrates the size of the impact from Europe, North America, Japan and Australasia despite its relatively low population and low population growth. China, India and Brazil are collected into the Developing column with the rest of the developed world listed as underdeveloped.
To use the calculator, alter the numbers in the yellow boxes to see the impact of controlling population growth, growth in consumption of resources and the relative wealth between rich and poor.
The green row demonstrates the total consumption for each region in 2020 and the pale apricot row demonstrates the factor by which current per capita consumption would be multiplied to acheive this result. The table given here indicates what is required to halve total resource consumption
This simple and shocking demonstration will be the subject of a series of articles over the course of 2008.
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