We don't need any original ideas. Everyone knows the answer. This world needs a maximum population of 1-2 billion people. If we had that population, then every idea thrown out would be just fine, and creating a sustainable life would be simple.

The fact of the matter is that there is no way to drop the population before the house of cards collapses. We might as well be talking about sports or britney spears on this site for all the good that this will do us.

I've been concerned about energy efficiency, population and sustainability since the late 1960's when I was a process development manager in the chemical industry. I agree that population is the elephant in the room. However, I would argue that it is part of the business-as-usual (BAU) paradigm that includes issues of governance and economics.

During this 30+ years I have walked the walk of my beliefs and concerns. I'm a non-parent, have a highly energy efficient house, lots of AE stuff, grow quite a bit of our food, etc. While CFLs might not seem like much, they might plant the seed that people need to become concerned about these issues. And, isn't this what we are hoping for?

Since I'm in the dieoff crowd, I'm not too worried about population per se. The only thing that saddens me is that it could have been avoided.

Todd