The Question (ID Number 14)...

You say that birth control is not the answer ­- that it can't be the answer. But I can't believe that limiting food production is the *only* solution. It may be the best, but not the "only." For example, if we were to somehow forcibly sterilize all but 1000 women on this planet, our population problem would be solved, at least for the next several thousand years. I just can't believe that birth control can be ruled out as a solution.

...and the response:

Birth control always works in fantasy (as in your suggested scenario). Where it doesn't work, unfortunately, is in reality. For individuals, it works wonderfully well for limiting family size. What it won't do is end our population explosion.