Not overpopulation: it's overconsumption

According to Dr. Paul Ehrlich, author of "The Population Bomb," the world is face in increasingly greater threat, not from overpopulation, but from overconsumption.

In the past, the United States has viewed the burgeoning population of countries like China and India as the primary source of environmental degradations -- countries of million of people who "just take up space."

Yet it looks like we're an even greater problem because of our inequitable use of natural resources such as oil, lumber, coal, and water.

This calls into question our belief that the more we get, the happier we'll be. In truth, for all our possession, we are no more successful at attaining high levels of happiness than we were during the Great Depression.

Instead of a life dominated by a pursuit of material happiness, we ought to pursue things that generate real happiness, like making a difference in the world around us.

Not only would this decrease the negative impact we have on the environment, depression, and other social illnesses would go down as well.

It's not a question about who's alive -- it's about who's really living.