Supporting the Poor

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Recommended: Importance of technology on the environment

In Hardin’s essay “Lifeboat Ethics” does not take a realistic account of world needs such as people being equipped with life-sustaining tools knowledge, and human innovation in order to change the status of the poor so that there would be room for everyone in the lifeboat of society. Hardin tries to support this position through the analogy of “rich” people in a life boat saving the “poor” people in the water as the people in the life boat have no more room and are in danger of sinking the ship if they take in any more passengers. His augment appears to be weak and passive because he uses a weak analogy to attach his argument by using a small ship, and it is almost like saying we are better than others because we are in a better situation or have more money which is dangerous way of thinking. Hardin has no real suggestions does this implies countries who can do something should just do nothing and the situation will just work out all by itself (Hardin 381-87).

When Hardin claims that our nation has a limited capacity to support a population and that the current energy crisis has shown us how we have already exceeded the carrying capacity of our land, he could not be further from the truth. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) state that there is more than enough food for everyone on the planet. Hardin states in his essay, “Lifeboat Ethics,” In 1973 the United States had a population of 210 million people and were increasing at a rate of 0.8% a year; this was misleading because during that period of time there was a baby boom (Hardin 381-87).

In the United States we have more farmable land than any other nation on earth with only 1/5 land (382 million acres) is used for ...

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"FAO Media Centre: Map: Guinea Savannah." FAO: FAO Home. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. .

"Grain: World Markets and Trade, October 2004." USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Oct. 2004. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. .

Hardin, Garrett. "Lifeboat Ethics." 1974. 75 Readings plus. By Santi V. Buscemi and Charlotte Smith. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 381-87. Print.

Morris, Michael. "Executive Summary." Awakening Africa's Sleeping Giant: Prospects for Commercial Agriculture in the Guinea Savannah Zone and Beyond. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009. 1-21. Print.

Rohter, Larry. "The New York Times Log In." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 2 Oct. 2007. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. .

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