They were linked by clogged expressways in a flattened, cleared landscape. It was so bleak, so denatured, it could have been a place rebuilt after a nuclear blast. The air was heavy with smog. Acid rain fell from the nation across the ocean. This will be how more people will live in 100 years.
Wealth winds back population growth.
In an age of economics, it is not surprising people will see economics as the solution. I as much as anyone want to believe this. But this optimism does not stand up. First, the theory that affluence leads to smaller families has not been properly tested. It may cause an initial fall, only to climb again.