one demographer, joel cohen, from rockefeller university, a few years ago, looked at all the estimates made of population size and sustainability -- trying to answer the question, "how many are too many?" and it really came down to a huge array of estimates and depended on what kind of life you wanted. and that's what really goes into this equation. it's a matter of trade-offs. narrator: while farnsworth riche's research is based mainly in the united states, deborah balk's studies have a predominantly global perspective. with 6.5 billion people currently living on the planet, it's estimated that world population mapeak at around 9.1 billion in the next 50 yrs. scientists predict that climate change linked to greenhouse-gas emissions will lead to changes in the global environment, including a rise in ocean levels. in developing nations, the majority of population growth is projected to take place in cities. many of these cities are situated in low-lying coastal areas -- eas most at risk for climate-change effects. balk: we know climate change will lead to sea-level rise, and that, of co