Yes it can be avoided. The predicted collapse has been avoided during the forty years that Ehrlich has been making predictions like this. (I'm old enough to remember his early career, and how different the predicted future years of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s looked from what he predicted in my youth.)<p><a href="http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/apocalypse-not.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/apocalypse-not.aspx</a><p><a href="http://www.masterresource.org/2010/03/howlin-wolf-paul-ehrlich-on-energy-part-ii-failed-predictions/" rel="nofollow">http://www.masterresource.org/2010/03/howlin-wolf-paul-ehrli...</a><p>Ehrlich counts on people not remembering anything that happened before they were in high school, and being young enough not to remember what he has said time and time again, and been wrong about every time.
Food is so important, yet so cheap that farmers can not sustain themselves. When people really start starving, food costs will rise and farmers will be the new rich.<p>There is no overpopulation. Overpopulation of urban centers, yes, overpopulation of useable land - no.<p>We'll have trouble sustaining the current growth, and the way money are spent on useless and short term stuff is alarming, but that will most likely lead to another recession instead of collapse.<p>That's my opinion on just these matters - the article is a great piece of information that needs to be read by everyone.