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You can listen to Lee's rants by following the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy7CpdWNbjA
Malthusian socioeconomics was wrong back in the 1800's for the same reason it is wrong today. Excess consumption that they are talking about is an essential part of our freedom. The Earth is technically finite, but its resources have hardly even been touched by us. What we have damaged severely is the biosphere which is an incredibly small part of Earth.
The problem with Malthusian theory is that it is based on a theological and emotional miscalculation of an scientific issue. The good reverend Malthus only understood what he was conditioned to understand i.e the Puritan ethic, which denigrate the material reality in pursuit of supernatural fantasies and thought that self denial was the highest human virtue. This is why capitalists so well financed their religious institutions
Lee the very young comedian scientific an almost wholly illiterate ideologue parallels Malthus ethics, without the religious dogma. However there is still an honest concern for the race on the part of Lee.
Resources available are a function of the scientific and technological state of knowledge to gain access to these resources. Every level of this knowledge puts a cap on the resources that can be accessed. In our case specifically, Space industry, starting with mining completely blows this scarcity argument completely out of the water. Solar power should not be based behind clouds, atmosphere, etc.. but in Space. The Earth should be reserved for our residence, individual growth and pleasure. In fact It is very irresponsible to the future of Humanity entirely in the hand of the planet. A natural global disaster could wipe out the race. So a presence in Space is essential to our species
Its OK for Lee and fellow Malthusians to advocate reduced consumption as personal act of contrition, for they are already enjoying a wonderfully rich carbon foot print and benefit from all the freedom that their specific healthy allocation of resources provide them. However for the rest of Human race comprising of over 80% of the planet, that are living miserable and desperate lives. Its far too late to ask them to reduce their consumption. Even asking them is racist and threatens them with outright genocide.
I am sure comrade Lee is referring to the consumption of the capitalist ruling classes. However as outrageous and enormous is their consumption, with respect to the overall load on global consumption, the 1% consume only a small minority of that total. The real problem with their wealth is that of hoarding wealth or capital. Their main use of capital is to war, repress the working class and compete with other capitalists or war!!
It is HOW the capitalist system uses science, technology and capital were the problem lies. It is NOT a question of how much they use, etc.... Being motivated solely by the profit motive leads to ALL the environmental and health damage. Solar plants and even bio mass is not the problem in themselves but how they are implemented. If 100 trees were required to be planted for every one cut down, biomass would not be so obscene. Even a forest fire can fertilize a forest and positively advance its growth. Nature has adapted itself to it and uses natural events to restore balance to itself. In the case of forest fires, parasites living off of dead trees are removed from the forest, etc..
The answer is not less but better and more just.