Much focus has been placed on human antimicrobial overconsumption as the main driver of AMR spread, likely because at present this is where the data are.
Despite fears that large carnivores are doomed to extinction because of rising human populations and overconsumption, a study published in Science has found that large predator populations are stable or rising in Europe.
While major threats to the health of the global ecosystem include habitat conversion, climate disruption, overexploitation, toxification, species invasions, and disease, the authors argued the two biggest drivers of population loss are often "much less frequently mentioned": human overpopulation and "overconsumption, especially by the rich".
Stephanie Feldstein leads the Center for Biological Diversity's work to highlight and address threats to endangered species and wild places from runaway human population growth and overconsumption.
Zakat, the tax by which surplus income is then redistributed, is like the proposal for a plenty line in addition to a poverty line to identify an optimal upper income level that ensures needs are met, but beyond which there is little human gain and where damaging overconsumption kicks in.
It has long been apparent to people working in environmental science that overpopulation is one of the two key factors in the destruction of the non-human environment – the other being overconsumption by the wealthy world ('Biological annihilation': Earth faces sixth mass extinction, 11 July).
His goals, he says, are: 1. "To make you rich so you can retire early"; 2. "To make you happy so you can properly enjoy your early retirement"; and 3. "To save the whole Human Race from destroying itself through overconsumption of its habitat".
According to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, almost half of the land animals studied have experienced "severe population declines" since the start of the 20th century – and with our overconsumption and growing population, human beings are the ones to blame.
But the consumption of antimicrobials by food-producing animals worldwide dwarfs that of humans, and the evidence base on their overconsumption as a powerful driver of AMR in humans and animals alike is growing swiftly.
But the ultimate cause of all of these factors is "human overpopulation and continued population growth, and overconsumption, especially by the rich", say the scientists, who include Prof Paul Ehrlich, at Stanford University in the US, whose 1968 book The Population Bomb is a seminal, if controversial, work.
