Malthus considered only one very narrow facet of the results of population growth. There are others - most significantly, ecosystem degradation and eventual collapse - that will impact humanity.

So it is vital to consider these factors too, rather than recklessly rejecting the spirit of the argument.

I agree that we need to consider those factors. But saying we need to switch to a plant-based diet is ridiculous. Any "solution" that involves everyone just changing their behavior (behavior that in some ways defines us as human) is just flat-out not going to happen.

A real solution is cognizant of human behavior and the tragedy of the commons. A real solution isn't dependent on every human being lowering his standard of living. The solution to whale extinction from whaling didn't depend on everyone using less whale oil, it depended on finding new, better, sources of energy.

Ain't that the sad fucking truth of how people think. This is one of the fallacies of capitalism and consumerism culture. The human ego has grown to levels that exceed the single planet we live on. We have the tools to find new and better sources of meat, it's called lab-grown. A simple yet effective solution, taxing the shit out of real cow meat as well as ocean caught fish would cause huge falls in demand, and would create opportunity to develop the lab grown meat technology to ecologically and economically competitive levels. If eating red meat is actually a higher standard of living, we should treat it as such. It makes no sense that a double cheese burger is cheaper than a salad. The same with driving gas guzzlers, tax that shit to hell. Make it economically painful to consume in those markets which are damaging. That is the purpose of government because markets don't regulate themselves.

Our primitive tendency to frame actions into nature can be fixed with education.

If every human being was more aware of how their actions are effecting the world, which is directly effecting themselves, they would realize their vote does matter and it does make a difference. THAT's the real issue with the world right now. People are burying their heads in the sand. Humanity is more connected than ever before with the internet, yet our disconnect with the world is greater than ever before. Even a small reduction in eating meat by everyone, especially red meat, would have huge impacts on the environment.

We need to reframe what higher standard of living really means.