We have the means...to immediately carry out rapid population reductions in a targeted, yet thorough fashion. For whatever reason, though, most people don't seem too enthused with the idea.
There seem to be a number of "leaders" perfectly willing to play the monster if they are not stopped. And there is no shortage of others, with cleaner hands, who will find themselves unable to act effectively in a timely manner, as in Darfur. Another problem is governments that effectively committ slow rolling genocide against their own population, as with North Korea or Burma. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
And for good measure:
... it would seem that the low technology reduction would be more further east in the Eurasian continent, in that country that looks like a Chicken and which is progressing rapidly through a demographic transition. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
(this maxim can be applied to economic policy to great effect, I expect)
most people at least want to think of their actions as moral.
