But looking at the whole earth images, I can't help but think - there are just too many people for things to go on the way they have been, especially if third world living standards come anywhere near ours, which they have every right to do. I don't know what the solution is, but I have a feeling one is going to be imposed on us by the world itself.

This is a serious problem, which a lot of us have been discussing on many other threads.

My hope is that we can come up with ideas and technologies that will allow everyone on the planet to live a healthy, comfortable life with enough energy to spare for luxury, and enough surplus wealth for innovation, art, and investment.

The Earth Observatory site you got the "lit Earth" picture from also has a section on fires. Run the animation. Certainly a lot of this is natural, but a lot of it is also the light generated by poverty.

I became interested in space many years ago because I could see that the Earth was approaching a choke point someday. While it's foolish to think we can move surplus population off the planet, it's not at all foolish to think we can move a lot of heavy industry, power generation, and resource mining off the planet.

Space is pretty much the only open door in the room, and I was hoping we'd be much further along by now.