Introduction:
Eric A Davidson’s book, "You Can’t Eat GNP" presents the fallacies that are inherent to an economic system that bases measurements of economic well-being without consideration of the depletion of natural resources needed to make that growth viable. His two key problems that are presented in the book are the issues of sustainability and scarcity.
Sustainability is the idea that land and other natural resources should be used in such a manner that they are never worn out. For instance, if an aquifer recovers its water depth from rainfall and other sources at the rate of 2 inches per year, then no more than 2 inches per year of water should be pulled from the aquifer. In the case of agricultural land use, if the land can only support crops for 2 seasons, and then must be rested for 10 seasons before being used again, then agricultural production in the area should be limited to the point that only a small portion of the land is used at any given time, and a cycle established that will prevent any additional land from being cleared. Sustainability’s primary downfall is that it involves stable outputs, which is not sufficient to keep up with an expanding world population.
Another major problem is the idea of scarcity. Davidson explains that scarce resources cause the need for constant expansion in order for everyone to have enough to survive. Unfortunately, these resources are being drawn from a so-called ‘spaceship ecology’ in which everything is limited. Therefore, enough resources must be present in all inhabited areas for every member of the society there to be able to survive comfortably; thus reducing need to destroy limited resources for survival. Destroying them for profit will still be pretty much unaffected however, unless regulations are made against it.
The obvious solution to the sustainability and scarcity problems is large-scale population reduction. This would allow massive social reorganization into sustainable groups, with initial guidance on sustainable development without needing to re-traverse the historical actions that have often compromised the ability of modern groups to maintain sustainability.
Also, large-scale population reduction would reduce the number of people needing to survive on limited resources, and, if done properly, would have little effect on the quantity of said resources. The method I would propose would be widespread biogenic warfare.