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Increasing Population Uncertainty
Carrying capacity is defined as the number of individuals of a certain species that can be sustained indefinitely in a particular area. The Earth’s capacity to support people is determined both by natural constraints and by human choices concerning economics, environment, culture (including values and politics), and demography. Human carrying capacity is more difficult to estimate than some of the standard demographic indicators, like expectation of life or the total fertility rate, because human carrying capacity depends on populations and activities around the world. Human carrying capacity is therefore dynamic and uncertain. Ecologists have often made use of the concept of carrying capacity in addressing the pressures that populations put on their environments. Many regions are already exceeding their carrying capacity; they cannot produce enough food to support their populations. One region where this is very clear is an enormous swath of equatorial Africa called the Sahel, that is undergoing very rapid desertification. The burgeoning populations of this area are contributing to its desertification by clearing forest for agriculture as well as for firewood. In 1900, 40% of Ethiopia was covered by forest; now only 4% is forested (Cohen, 1995).
The world's population will soon reach a level where there will not be enough resources to sustain life, as we know it. During the last half-century, world population has more than doubled, climbing from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 5.9 billion in 1998. There has been more growth in population since 1950 than during the 4 million preceding years since our early ancestors first stood upright (Brown, Gardner, & Halweil, 1999). This unpr...
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...em. Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development. [Online]. Available: http://www.foundation.novartis.com/food_security_population.htm
Malthus, T.R. (1798). First Essay on Population. New York, N.Y.: Sentry Press.
Malthus, T.R. (1992). An Essay on the Principle of Population. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.
Mings, Turley. (1995). The Study of Economics: Principles, Concepts & Applications. Guilford, Connecticut: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc.
Oberlink, Ric, J.D. (1995). “Population and Representation.” CAPS Newsletter, Vol. 26.
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Seitz, J.L. (1995). Global Issues: An Introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Turbak, Gary. “Tick... Tick... Tick...” American Legion Magazine. 1992: 20 S.I.R.S. "Population" 52.
[6] Turley Mings and Matthew Marlin, [The Study of Economics: Principles, Concepts & Applications] (Dushkin McGraw-Hill, 2000) 413-414.
Malthus, T. R. (1798) Essay on the Principle of Population, Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-13
Thomas Robert Malthus was born on February 13th, 1766, at Dorking, a town south of London. His theory about population was that population growth usually exceeds the amount of food produced for that particular area, so we should try to limit the growth of our population. In his book An Essay on the Principle of Population, As it Effects the Future Improvement of Society, he ...
Malthus’ An Essay on the Principle of Population, he states “I think I may fairly make two postulata. First, that food is necessary to the existence of man. Secondly, that the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state.” He came up with the Population Principle in which he argued that population, when unregulated, increases geometrically, whereas subsistence increases arithmetically. This then becomes an issue when the population outweigh the amount of food available. Malthus then said that once this level was surpassed, that famine would be the main source of the limit to population growth and that premature death was the most natural way to control the
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.
Ellis states that the overpopulation of humans is not a problem for the planet. Dissimilar to bacteria in a petri dish, the rapid increase of the humankind population does not propose dreadful outcomes or come to “the limits of a finite planet (Ellis 1).” According to Thomas Malthus’ theory, “population growth tends to outrun the food supply” (qtd. Ellis 1). Moreover, Ellis argues that humans’ systems that support us, such as social and technological require development (2). Additionally, Ellis claims that there is no necessary intention for utilizing supplementary land for maintaining humankind or being famished for environmental purposes (2). In order for the posterity to be satisfied with the Earth, we must limit “our imaginations and our social systems” (Ellis
Having a population size that is not dangerously large is the limit where the population size is acceptable and understood as the defined carrying capacity for humans1. Population size and consumption can create stress on the environment through resources and social systems so that the quality of life declines. However some believe that resources can be created by humans and not all need to be replaced and reinvented once depleted, so resource availability may not be declining after all2. Although population growth increases economic growth in further investments of natural and renewable resources, consumption, increased population and limiting factors of carrying capacity will decrease the Earth’s ability to support and sustain us humans.
The past many decades have revealed a dramatically large increase in the global population. For example, the population increased from about 2.5 billion in 1950 to over 7.3 billion in 2015. This huge increase in population resulted in a need for many changes to be made in society. Global population growth is leading to deep changes in the demographics, economies, ecology, health, and governments of the world.
Malthus, on the other hand, in his book An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) imparted a tone of dreariness. Malthus’s main contribution to economics was his theory that a population tends to increase faster than the supply of food available for its needs.
The human population has been growing at an exponential rate over the past two-hundred years. What is the reason for this drastic change in the population, and what factors contributed to it? There are many factors, but one of the largest has been the advances in medicine and technology over the last two centuries. The problem is that with such a large population, there will not be enough resources to supply us all. This will lead to massive famines, and wars between nations over land, and resources. First let's take a step back, and see how did we get here, then we will discuss ways to fix the problem.
Throughout history, the world’s population has expanded in an extremely exponential fashion-- taking over three million years to achieve a one billion person benchmark, it then only took 130, 30, 15, 12, and 11 years to reach subsequent billions, respectively. (Southwick, 159) Such a massive and still increasing population, combined with the environmentally detrimental repercussions of industrialization (as a result of the need to sustain such a large population), namely pollution from fossil fuels, has begun to take a serious toll on our planet’s ecosystem. Moreover, “some scientists have calculated that an optimal human population on earth in terms of reasonable living standards is no more than 2 billion people.” (Southwick, 161) Already, we are well over this “optimal” population level at more than 6 billion people with projections of growing by another 2 to 4 billion in this century. Still, with the advent of modern technologies, primarily in the areas of medicine and agriculture, humans “have effectively increased the size of the globe over the last two centuries, in terms of the maximum population which it will support.” (Dolan, 58) Nonetheless, in spite of such stark improvements in technological efficiency and capability, the fact remains that one in five people worldwide lives malnourished and without adequate housing. Equally important, and especially pertaining to the topic at hand, is the notion that such overpopulation, in conjunction with industrialization on a global scale, has led to increased emissions of harmful pollutants, some of which can cause ozone depletion and global warming. Global warming, which will be examined shortly, is the phen...
The reduction of the Earth's resources has been closely linked to the rise in human population. For many thousands of years people lived in relative harmony with their surroundings. Population sizes were small, and life-supporting tools were simple. Most of the energy needed for work was provided by the worker and animals. Since about 1650, however, the human population has increased dramatically. The problems of overcrowding multiply as an ever-increasing number of people are added to the world's population each year.
“Thus sustainable development can only be pursued if population size and growth are in harmony with the changing productive potential of the ecosystem (p.
Human population growth was relatively slow for most of human history. Within the past 500 years, however, the advances made in the industrial, transportation, economic, medical, and agricultural revolutions have helped foster an exponential, "J-shaped" rise in human population (Southwick, Figure 15.1, p. 160). The statistics associated with this type of growth are particularly striking: "Human beings took more than 3 million years to reach a population of 1 billion people...The second billion came in only 130 years, the third billion in 30 years, the fourth billion in 15 years, the fifth billion in 12 years..." (Southwick, p. 159). As human population has grown, there has been simultaneous growth within the industrial sector. Both of these increases have greatly contributed to environmental problems, such as natural resource depletion, ecosystem destruction, and global climate change. Also linked with the increasing human population are many social problems, such as poverty and disease. These issues need to be addressed by policy makers in the near future in order to ensure the survival and sustainability of human life.
Malthus, T. R., Winch, D., & James, P. (1992). An essay on the principle of population, or, A view of its past and present effects on human happiness: with an inquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal or mitigation of the evils which it occasions. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press.