A rather confusing and pointless article. Lost somewhere in the diatribe is the fact that global overpopulation is a key contributor to marginalized ecosystems, equatorial desertification and  global warming. A phenomenon not evident in our western world but of critical importance in the developing and third world. Unfortunately foreign aid and NGO intervention has focussed on "saving lives" to the neglect of the far deeper issue of managing birth rates. Culturally embedded family sizes used to be restricted by disease or famine - but no more. Thus the result. Never mind religious ( e.g. Catholic ) dogma against birth control. Never mind population growth in isolation - include lifestyle creep whereby the Third World tries to achieve our energy consumption levels and related CO2 emissions. In many cultures treating women as equals is a non-starter but that is perhaps a secondary issue. Instead of our singular focus on fossil fuels we need to include population management as a priority.