Depopulation in Some Rich Nations: Good News for Planet Earth?

Geographers have long been interested in population and its interactions with Earth's natural systems. In recent decades it has become continually more apparent that steady population growth, coupled with increasing affluence, has wreaked havoc on many natural systems, has caused the decline and even extinction of many species of plants and animals that share the planet with us, has changed our global climate, and has exacerbated numerous other problems. Now populations in some countries, including Japan, Russia, and Germany are, or soon will be, starting to decline. This trend would seem to bode well for the planet, but the depopulation of some rich countries may be drowned out by the continuing wave of population growth in the United States and in many poor countries.