Is There a Limit to Growth?

Thomas Malthus wrote that whenever the human condition improved we added more people instead of trying to maintain a better standard of living when fewer of us died of starvation.  He was also ahead of his time in proposing that increased abundance brought on inflation rather than an effort to improve the standard of living for the poor and disabled.

There were examples of a utopian existence for some but a continued level of poverty for the masses.

What seems to be happening is a combination of all the situations that Malthus said would limit population growth, a growing middle class under pressure, and environmental stresses that may checkmate increased growth and an improved standard of living for all.

Are these issues transitory or are they something that is getting baked into how the Earth is and will become?

I'm really not sure which of these issues is the most important, whether it is war, famine, global climate change, or poverty, some other major problem like an ongoing pandemic, or something else.  One way or another something needs to happen to lessen these each of situations.

I took a course at U of Miami and one of the biggest issues was the "Population Bomb" written by Paul and Anne Ehrlich and a global famine. "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate.

Paul Ehrlich may have overshot regarding famine but population and sustainability issues regarding our modern lifestyles is pushing climate change and many other issues.