The Shape of Things:

Back in the mid-twentieth century, the future was forecast in terms of wonderful technological advances, like everyone having his or her own personal flying car. The only dark spot on the horizan seemed to be that bugaboo, over population. Food production was the criteria by which we measured this, although people did have fun with predicting that by such and such a year we would all have one square foot of ground to stand on.

Then The Green Revolution sprang into full force, and we were able to produce more food than was necessary to feed the teeming millions that crowded, mostly, along the shore lines of the world. Now the only problem seemed to be how to get the food to the hungry mouths, circumventing, at least sometimes, nasty politicians who used food to control their populations.

But it's quite possible that food will soon be back as a standard. Consider the story in today's New York Times, "Study Sees 'Global Collapse' of Fish Species." Some of the first focus on the environment had to do with life in the seas. We took difficult steps to assure that whales, for instance, would continue to exist. Now it seems we may not have gone for enough. A new study published in the journal Science forecasts a future that promises some very difficult choices for us in the not so disatant future.

We have to expect that Charlie Rose will blunder across this story at some point.