Definition of the word world:
    The word world, in the context of a discussion of overpopulation. means NOT the planet, OR the globe (which I seriously doubt is warming), but, in definitions 1 and 2 below, the eco-system, i.e. the eco-world or the eco-sphere or bio-sphere (which I think is what IS warming - among other things that are going wrong with it that Al Gore finds it inconvenient to mention), and in definition 3 below, it refers to the same place but from the perspective of an intelligent, civilized person with good taste - like me.

Definition of the word overpopulation, with emphasis on the phrase, too many people:
     Overpopulation is:
    (1) TOO MANY PEOPLE to balance and interact harmoniously with the other species and elements in an eco-system which, to remain healthy and viable, requires all the elements in its make-up to balance and interact with all the other elements harmoniously;
     (2) TOO MANY PEOPLE to provide each and every one of them the best life practically possible in a less populated world, just in case we ever have a one-world Civilized State that actually tries to do that.
     (3) SO MANY PEOPLE, whether or not more can be crowded in (which is definitely NOT cosmically necessary or unavoidable), that our eco-space is ALREADY too crowded with people and their noisy, tasteless, poisonous encampment to be as comfortable as it once was and still could be - or as beautiful as it once was and still could be - or to leave room outside their way-overgrown encampment for the luxuriously spacious natural world of clean air and soil and water and mountains and vast empty plains and forests and streams and seas teaming with abundant wild life that I WANT IN MY WORLD.

     Right now, all of those definitions are academic, since, to anybody but an insensitive entrepreneur with a vested interest in growth, a politician trying to be all things to all and especially all rich constituents, a pseudo progressive trying to be politically correct, a dolt suckered by the insiders' media, or a religious person in rigid denial of a real world with actual spacial size and limitations, all three of those lines have obviously ALREADY been crossed. The first two lines were crossed hundreds or even thousands of years ago, for sure before Columbus was pushed west by population pressure but probably way before that. The third line was crossed over 100 years ago and too obviously not to notice it in the last 50 years - so that, right now, overpopulation clearly enough means:

    (4) OVER 7 BILLION PEOPLE in a world just right for a fraction of that number.

     Incidentally, understanding of all four definitions above needs to include an understanding - a realization (how can you avoid it?) - that the human presence is accompanied by the presence of a HUMAN ENCAMPMENT that is far bigger and weighs far more heavily on the eco-system than do its billions of tenants.

     Of course, there are other definitions not worth numbering:

     (0) MORE THAN THE OPTIMUM population. This definition (to which, as a double entendre, I'm assigning a zero - 0) was adopted by pseudo progressives in the early 90's and apparently meant either: all we can get in, as if a not quite critical mass would be ideal, OR: as many as we can stand before everyone finally realizes the world is overpopulated and is democratically willing to finally do something about it.
    Of all the politically correct garbage smothering us since 1990, that has to be the closest to actually insane. It has to be technically mad to WANT to live in a world any MORE crowded than this - or to suppose that any crazy cosmic ethic requires that we go for the most the world can stand or the most it is politically correct to stand. The optimum population idea was and is nothing more respectable than a politically correct concession made by pseudo progressives to minorities they fear offending, who are hypocritically presumed to be culturally incapable of growing past their tradition of proliferating quail-like families.

     A realistic optimum population would be a number comfortably and safely BELOW definitions #1 and #2 above - a ceiling that would provide a comfortable buffer zone obviously. But the optimum population concept is fundamentally flaky since, in fact, while there clearly can be and are too many people, there's no sensible reason to strive for as many people as we can supposedly accomodate, and there is no such thing as too few people. If the human population were to die out, so what?

     I won't waste space on any of the loony-tunes population theories of religious lumpen resisting science.

     NEWS FLASH: Our eco-system is NOW no longer healthy and viable (see definition #1). That's why it's NOW visibly falling apart. And the best life practically possible (see definition #2) has to include a VIEW down any street of open green hills; an over ABUNDANCE of nearby wilderness full of unstressed wildlife; crystal clear air and water and unpolluted soil; AND a main street in everybody's hometown that not only ISN'T a strip mall but would look good on a Christmas card (see definition #3).

     If I just lost you, you deserve to be lost. Go to another website and look at real estate and super-spa ads or play video games full of freeways and crashing car images.

MORE DEFINITIONS