By considering present evidence against the backdrop of historical evidence, and by using statistics to weave together different sets of data it is possible to construct a narrative that highlights patterns of change and the reasons behind them. Nobody does this better than Professor Hans Rosling

So please use the next 4 minutes to watch as he takes us through 200 years of global development.

Prof. Roling’s work clearly charts shifts in global population, health and quality of life – highlighting the huge disparity between countries and even within countries. This historical perspective provides an excellent baseline for considering the future. Indeed, the presentation ends on a positive note about the potential for green technology to make the global population healthier and wealthier.

But can the carrying capacity of planet actually support this prediction in the light of population increase? Resource availability will be considered in the later chapters but here I want to look and how we might address world population growth that is clearly unsustainable