Ignorance can be a choice of the lazy, or a place already so overpopulated they can no longer afford teachers, or the lowest spectrum of IQ has most of the people. This affects learning, along with mercury and other environmental poisons.
Economically, more demand is from more people and raises prices, while more demand for jobs lowers incomes. The world as a whole is actually poor.
With all of the knowledge of it for 50 years, we have been unable to stop "the Juggernaut" of overpopulation to crash. So, overpopulation leads to a crash, usually with a slow recovery to staying near long term sustainable level. This time is different in that after a certain point, recovery of the biosphere from runaway to GTE is passed before the population crashes. No recovery, or a 30 million year recovery.
That point in time is within a decade, so we could not go to all no emissions with any technology, in time. It would take the miracle of Yellowstone super erupting.
The survivors, coming out of the ashes into a medieval world still polluted with numerous wastes, and the ice age coming on schedule. No matter what, the biosphere will be much harsher, as a best case scenario.