Couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, I should have said something like it. We can sustain larger populations with good systems in place. As I went through this post I was conscious I was emotionally responding to overpopulation narratives, and that it wasn't that that was the problem but how it's managed or dealt with, but perhaps I didn't clearly show that's what I meant.

Then again, sharp population declines aren't a bad thing if managed properly either.