Population Growth and Standard of Living

Population Growth and Standard of Living

Recently, the human population on this planet surpassed an amazing milestone. In the year 2000 it hit 6 billion, and without a sign of slowing down, continue to increase at an unprecedented pace. After taking nearly 3 million years to reach our first 1 billion, it has taken us only 11 years to raise our population the most recent billion (from 5 to 6). This rate of growth can be graphically interpreted as a J-shape pattern. If the past is any indication of the future, this means that while our rate of growth is high right now (a net increase of almost 87 million annually), it will continue increase to no end. But is there a limit to how big the population on Earth can truly be? While many agree on the J-shape population growth of the past, few ascertain that this trend will continue. In the following I will describe some of the current theories about our species' future population growth.

Some ecologists today consider the rate of population growth amongst humans, an ecological crisis. These ecologists see "excessive consumption as an equally important cause of pollution and environmental deterioration."(Southwick, 161) One such ecologist is Charles H. Southwick, author of Global Ecology in Human Perspective. He believes that while some people are "living longer and fuller lives than ever before", a major portion of our population is living in poorer conditions than ever before. (Southwick, 161) Southwick explains that this is largely due to the fact that our planet is already overpopulated and cannot provide enough materials for all humans to share a reasonable standard of living. "A number of scientists believe we cannot, and some believe we cannot ever ensure adequate food suppli...

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...olan would claim that no population controls should be put into place. Since Simon believes there will be an eventual tech fix for the rise in population, he might that the government simply has to invest in the private sector to increase research to better the living standard worldwide. Dolan would assert that population and the living standard are to separate topics entirely. Specifically, he would claim that the pollution and the population problem were not correlated if pollution controls by the government were stressed. (Dolan, 69) If the government were to improve pollution controls it would raise the living standard and make the world more hospitable to a larger human population.

Sources

1) Dolan, Edwin G. The Economic Strategy for Environmental Crisis. 1974.

2) Southwick, Charles H. Global Ecology in Human Perspective. Oxford University Press, 1996.