Great essay Christian - i think it's really important to dialogue about the often taboo topic of population growth, as it is a really big challenge. As you say, increasing efficiency of use and systems is a step towards dematerializing our use of resources, and yet i don't think it is the only solution. With respect to HOW to address population growth, I think it is interesting that there are some commonalities amongst current societies that are not growing in population (eg Sweden) vs ones that have massive population growth. It seems that when good cultural societal systems are in place such that (i) children are well cared for and don't have a high death risk, (ii) the elderly are well taken care of, and (iii) women are empowered to play an active role in society and decision-making (especially relating to family planning), then the population is fairly stable. One doesn't need to have a lot of kids to ensure that some survive, or that you will be cared for when you are older. I think focussing on caring for people, increasing survival rates and improving education will cause the desired reduction in population growth. Any thoughts?