Population calamities in seemingly "empty" environments? This is a book about earth's carrying capacity for an industrialized humanity and climb-and-collapse population calamities in real-world conditions. Beginning with a world population of two billion in 1930, our newest numbers include seven billion in 2011 (FIVE additional billions in a single human lifetime), with still more billions (numbers eight and nine) on-track to arrive by mid-century. Given the compelling evidence for the impacts and damage that our species is already inflicting (when only half of us are industrialized), our current trajectories already exhibit late-phase exponential conditions.

Sample chapters include "Nine assumptions that invite calamity," "The paleolithic, the neolithic, and now," and "Carrying capacity and limiting factors," while sample section topics include "the lungs of the world," "stoplights and twisting mountain roads," "the wheels are coming off out there," "tipping points," and "unintended consequences."