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Originally Posted by IamIan
#1> What do you think is the maximum sustainable carrying capacity number of humans for this entire planet Earth ?
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My guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 million.
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#2> What is the real world data source that number is based on?
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I don't think there are any real world data sources of the sort you want. Unfortunately, ecology is not yet an engineering discipline, so you can't just plug numbers into the equivalent of an FEM program, and get back an exact answer. We have to go by trial & error, and (if we're sensible) allow for a good safety margin.
So, as I noted earlier, ecosystems are gradually failing all over the place, which IMHO strongly suggest that we're well into the error half of trial & error.
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Do you have evidence to support your suggestion about #1 (no meat eating humans) ?
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Oh, several hundred thousand years of human history, depending on just where you draw the line between human and pre-human. Is there any time in that history when entire populations voluntarily gave up meat-eating? (Note that I'm not saying that it's not
theoretically possible to feed a population this way, I'm saying that people will not do it. It'd be like multiplying the "War On Drugs" insanity by a hundredfold.)
Surface of the planet restriction .. is not a requirement for total planet sustainability limits ... bellow ground , under sea , in air , etc .. are still space that is part of this planet ... and much of that is not being utilized.
But ... Even the surface is not all being utilized as you claimed.
(Note: I don't want it all to be)
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Every mm of roof that is not harvesting solar energy is not being fully utilized.
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Every mm^2 of roof (or road, parking lot, etc) displaces the plant & animal life that was fully utilizing that mm^2 before humans built on it.
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Vast stretches of the ocean .. are not being fully utilized.
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Yes, they are utilized by fish, whales, plankton, etc.
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Vast areas of arctic North and South are not fully utilized.
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Fully utilized by caribou, musk ox, polar bears, penguins, &c.
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Vast areas of barren deserts are not fully utilized.
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Fully utilized by sagebrush, cactus, jackrabbits, coyotes, sage grouse, &c.