Overpopulation or Overconsumption?

It is certainly true that the impact of the population increase in the less developed countries will have a major impact on the environment and food demand. Is there much more that can be done other than attempting a population control in those countries? Of course there is. Consumption seems to be as much, if not more so, a contributing factor to food demand and environmental impact.
Those who live in the more developed countries consume almost 100 times the amount of energy needed to be sustained. What's more, most of this energy is from nonrenewable sources, such as fossil fuels. Water consumption is rampant, especially in agriculture and industry. But it is used by the everyday person in a more developed country for bathing, irrigation, cooking and flushing toilets than it is for drinking. People in more developed countries are irresponsible with food consumption as well. Not only do they generally consume more food than needed, they consume a lot more meat than needed. Meanwhile the lack of protein in the diets of many people in the less developed countries is alarming. The excess consumption of meat by people in the more developed countries, particularly the US, also uses a lot more grains than if the people had a vegetable-high diet.
Of course, our consumption certainly affects the people of less developed countries. Our demands for goods and services put a demand on them to work with whatever will get the job done quickest. This usually means environmentally detrimental practices that they perpetuate because of the competitive nature of people in more developed countries. This causes adverse effects to the land. Some of these ecosystems, such as the forests and marine ecosystems may never recover. This simply adds to the energy and food crisis.
The solution is obvious. If the more developed countries lead by example in areas of energy conservation and innovating renewable sources they will greatly reduce energy used worldwide. This would lead to a surplus usable by less developed countries. They will also push less developed countries to follow suit.