Overpopulation, Overcrowding, Poverty and Conflict
At present, there are 6.5 billion people in the world and the number continues to multiply. In contrast, there are only a limited number of natural resources. On a global basis, the human population has shown a J-shaped pattern of growth over the past two thousand years, while the availability of natural resources mandatory for human survival is in slow decline. The implications of this are not limited to mass starvation, poverty and overcrowding of poorly sanitized cities. In fact, the current stress created by the imbalance between a burgeoning population and a finite number of resources are also one of the main factors contributing to the rise of violent inter-group conflict. Clearly, something must change in order to insure our own survival and the survival of our planet.
Unfortunately, human nature adopted its current manufacture and consumption habits during a time when the balance between the number of humans and their available resources was not nearly as stressed. The world’s population early in the agricultural revolution (about 8,000 BC) was probably no more than 10 million. (Southwick 159) In addition, the number of natural resources available for human use was much greater. Thus, humans are continuing to live as though there were an unlimited amount of natural resources, setting themselves up for dire consequences in the future. According to a contemporary anthropologist and writer, “Most ecologists consider human population growth to be one of the greatest problems in global ecology and a major driving force of environmental degradation. They see excessive consumption as an equally important cause of pollution and environmental deterioration....
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...ver before. If we can maximize this connection by adopting policy compatible with those ecological and demographic areas it might affect, than we might work together to solve the greatest crisis that we will ever encounter.
Sources:
Dolan, Edwin G., Ch. 5 from "TANSTAAFL: The Economic Strategy for Environmental Crisis" 1974, pp. 55-72.
Ehrlich, Paul R., "Ch.11: Gods, Dive-Bombers, and Bureaucracy" in Human Natures:
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Homer-Dixon, Thomas. Article in Klare, Michael T. and Ghandrani, Yogesh; World Security: Challenges for a New Century. Bedford/ St. Martin’s. NY. 1998.
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Southwick, Charles H., Ch. 15 from "Global Ecology in Human Perspective" Oxford Univ. Press, 1996, pp. 159-182.
Ponting, Clive. Ch.11 from "A Green History of the World," St. Martins Press, NYC, 1991
Cunningham, William P. Cunningham, Mary Ann and Saigo, Barbara. Environmental Science, A Global Concern. McGraw-Hill. New York, NY. 2005.
In unit 3 we learned about sustainability, our ecological footprints, oil resources as well as trade. The sustainability dilemma is divided into three sections that each show a way the earth is struggling to sustain us. When studying population, we learned that the global population is slowing down, but will continue to increase for at least thirty years. Furthermore, in unit 4 we learned about population change. When studying exponential growth, we learned the United Nation has three predictions for the future global population. These predictions include our population increasing rapidly, decreasing rapidly and stabilizing. These two ideas are connected because they both explore the future of our population. The diagram represents
...hey knew nothing about. Therefore, civil service examinations were created in order to hire skilled professionals. These examinations were a needed stipulation for hiring during a time when more technical skills were needed. It also displaced unskilled workers, a number of which were put into place by the political machine. Civil service examinations hurt the machine in many ways. It released workers who were put in by the machine, and then taken out due to being unqualified, from voting in their favor. They created an atmosphere which made it difficult for the machine to use their patronage in order to place unskilled workers in a job. More importantly, it aided in the public realization that with the arrival of a more representative government for everyone, which didn’t ask for individual favors, political machines no longer appealed to them and were not needed.
For centuries Homo sapiens have been considered the most unique species in the primate order. Researchers have shown that Homo sapiens are not the most unique in the homo genus, there have been ancestors that have the same traits that many people consider unique to human. One of these traits is the ability to walk bipedal, which no other primate can do well. It is difficult to state which of the ancestors were the first “humans”, but through various evidence, it can be determined that the Homo neanderthalensis or Neanderthal, were the first to show signs of being human.
Sapayan, Salud. "Ways in Preserving the Environment." Ezine Articles. 1 May 2009. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. http://ezinearticles.com/?Ways-in-Preserving-the-Environment&id=2463133
Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted for well over 100,000 years. Then suddenly Homo neandertalensis began to die out and surrender the earth to Homo sapiens. Paleontologists and anthropologists have entertained several possibilities to the causes of this event: interbreeding among Neanderthals and humans, competition for natural resources, and Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest.” What the real cause has been has plagued scientists for years. Now, due to an international research team from Germany, those possibilities have been even further deduced, making it easier to pinpoint the exact reason Homo neandertalensis became extinct.
("Sergei Eisenstein is Dead in Moscow”, New York Times, 1948). Eisenstein’s more popular works include: Strike, The Battleship Potemkin, October, Alexander Nevsky, and Ivan the Terrible (Hoobler 77-80). To this day, Eisenstein is held in hi...
In the Pleistocene Era, hominins have been expanded rapidly in terms of survival, such as availability of food resources, migrating and how they defend their territories. Then, this has been lead hominins to develop intelligence and create a wide variety of tools. However, there is no specific evidence or answer to, how did human beings evolve and where did they come from. Environmental conditions or pressures have been played importantly, that contributed to the selection of the genus Homo in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and there is an anatomical evidence over the past one million years, culminating in our modern genome; leads to developing human cognition and explains why modern humans are the only ones who exists today.
Humankind will always have to overcome challenges. Three key challenges that we are currently facing and require immediate action are overpopulation, land use, as well as cultural conflicts. These issues have been prevalent topics in the media in recent years. Unless we start taking the steps to address these concerns, we will continue to see these topics in the media for years to come.
In today’s society that we live in, there are countless of environmental problems that we face, such as global warming, fishing, pollution, and many other topics of that matter. These issues have affected our environment for the worse and have caused problems physically and economically. Yet, out of all the issues that effects our world on a daily basis, it is shown that overpopulation is one if not, is our biggest issue in our environment that is only getting worse due time, especially due to the rapid growth of the human population and the limited resources that are left on earth that we absolutely need to tend to our growing population. Even Dr. Charles A. Hall, who is a systems ecologist, states that, “Overpopulation is the only problem, If we had 100 million people on Earth or better yet 10 million, no others would be a problem.” Which helps prove that overpopulation is a major issue that we must act upon if we want to save our world.
King, W., 1864. The reputed fossil man of the Neanderthal. Quarterly Review of Science 1, 88-97.
Human history is pock-marked with innumerable wars and revolutions. The cause for most of the revolutions has been the choice of freedom. The opportunity to live a life without physical, mental or emotional restrictions has been and still is of supreme importance to man. This has resulted in the most widely followed discipline of political governance: Democracy.
Thompson, G. & Turk, J. (1993). Earth Science and the Environment. New York: Saunders College Publishing & Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
...dearly-held, unconscious collective assumptions may impede our chances for survival. Or, as Poliakoff, et. al., noted, “fundamental changes in technology are adopted… only when they provide real advantage” (810). Are human beings inherently selfish, or are they capable of rising above that? Will we use this power we have developed to help ourselves, or to attempt to help the world? “Why can’t we achieve a better balance between people, resources, and the environment? … The complete answers to these questions lie deeply within the complex realms of science, philosophy, religion, economics, and politics.” (170). The answers may be complicated. The truth is, industrialization has changed our relationship to the environment. It has enabled us to hurt it far more than any other species, but it has also given us the ability to help. The power of choice now lies with us.