I'm not so much fixated with space as looking for perspective ie. how much is a lot, an d how much is too much. We have heard so often over such a long period that the world is overpopulated that many if not most people have a casual acceptance of the fact of overpopulation, regardless of evidence.
.............................. "How many people per sq km should [or can] live on the earth? The fact that you reckon 47 people per sq km isn't "that much", tells me you have no idea- as indeed, do I. So, let's keep some headroom- it makes sense because not doing so, would be catastrophic.'
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You are right, I have no real idea. I would add a proviso to any talk of overpopulation...that is, relative to a current political/cultural/economic setup rather than any absolute carrying capacity of the Earth. I would even go so far as to say that an absolute carrying factor(except in an extreme case) is meaningless. I still remember my 4th form science teacher excitedly telling us of the just released Club of Rome report in the early 1970's and how we will have run out of everything by the turn of the century....we saw how that bunch of experts got it right...lol.
I didn't see Two Men and a Tinny as I haven't owned a telly for 15 years but did you see the Allan Savory TED talk about reversing desertification?
