LordsFire
Internet Wizard
The global lower classes have been trapped in perpetual material misery. Slavery exists in all but name in many places around the world. Just because you don't see it in your backyard doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
As to society collapse due to overpopulation, did you not pay attention to the Syrian civil war and its root cause in water shortages or the Arab Spring in general? Destruction of the environment in South America and Africa are pretty catastrophic and populations are only sustained thanks to imports from the developed world:
The Effects of Desertification in Africa - The Borgen Project
One ambitious initiative created to reduce desertification in Africa is the Great Green Wall. Once completed, the Great Green Wall will be the largestborgenproject.org
Maybe there is a technological solution to stave things off even more, but nothing is guaranteed.
The World’s Water Crisis Explained on World Water Day
Many more cities than Cape Town face an uncertain future over water. But there are emerging solutions.www.nationalgeographic.com
Just because the US media doesn't talk about it doesn't mean it isn't happening.
Poverty:
Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth | Econofact
About 1.1 billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty in the last 25 years. Broad-based growth is the most important source of poverty reduction.
econofact.org
Water shortage:
The Syrian civil war was not caused by 'water shortages.' The Syrian war was caused by most middle-eastern cultures being fractious and even more prone to corruption than most others, on top of practically every regional and global power putting their fingers into the pie on top of that. Sure, water shortages can help exacerbate the problem, but bluntly put, solving water shortage problems just takes money and stability.
Localized droughts are not going to cause planetary water shortages. What they're going to do is make local water resourced more expensive. It isn't a matter of 'maybe' there is a technological solution, the technology not only exists, it's existed for decades, and is getting more efficient as technology continues to advance.
The first solution is to not to have more than very small populations in the middle of deserts. The second solution is to actually pay more to develop the infrastructure. The third solution... really is just more of the first.
Desalination costs energy, but is always an option for any coastal location, and despite what environmental hysterics may try to claim, droughts do eventually turn around, and the problem can be dealt with.
Outright desertification is something more difficult to deal with, but it is a gradual process, and in the worst case, people can just move to somewhere more habitable.
