Controlling population growth depends on the international community's willingness to make population issues a priority. The worldwide political community will not, because it cannot, make harsh decisions without public acceptance. However, when overcrowding lowers the quality of life sufficiently the populace will not only accept but demand controls on human conduct.
             Population pressures lead to the increased consumption of natural resources. Drinking water, in particular, is already becoming scarce as rivers and oceans are polluted. Countries in desert regions buy themselves varying periods of grace by pumping groundwater out of subterranean pockets. Wherever population is growing, the supply of fresh water per person is declining. As a result of population growth, the amount of water available per person from the hydrological cycle will fall by 74 percent between 1950 and 2050. (WWI 1998) Stated otherwise, t
             ...