The Problems with Human Population Essay
The Problem Of Population And Growth Essay
Argumentative Essay On Population Control
Population Growth Essay
Population Problems By Garett Hardin
Population: The Growing Problem Essay
Italy Overpopulation Essay
Population Growth Problems
The Human Population Essay
Population Growth Essay
Impact Of Overpopulation On The Society Essay
Essay on The Problems of Over Population
Human Population Problems
The Problem Of Expanding Population Essay
The Population Problem Essay
The Population Problem Essay
1. The Problems with Human Population Essay
The Problems with Human Population
In Chapter III of The Origin of Species, Darwin writes: "Even slow–breeding man has doubled in
twenty–five years, and at this rate, in a few thousand years, there would literally not be standing
room for his progeny." (Darwin 29) Three hundred years ago, the population was only at about 500
million, and during this time the population was at a slow increase. Another factor during this
period of time was the birth and death rates were at much higher levels. Many babies were born, but
many also died. "Living conditions were such that many of the remaining children failed to survive
beyond the age of thirty." (Black 84) The crisis of Over Population should not be a surprise to
anyone, currently if you...show more content...
For decades, humans have fooled themselves into believing that we would never deplete all of
earth's resources, but because we could not control the population this has become almost inevitable.
Not only is the exhaustion of resources a problem we face, but the destruction of these resources is
as well. This destruction includes continued urban growth, degradation of land and water resources,
massive deforestation, and buildup of greenhouse gases. Pollutants such as chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs), radiation, and pesticides are all physical environmental factors found in air, land, or water
that are damaging the planet. They recognize no political boundaries. Not only are resources
affected but nature and many of its elements are in danger. Populations are being wiped out, species,
and communities of plants, animals, and microorganisms that are working parts of our life–support
systems are being destroyed. These are all partly responsible for the delivery of ecosystem
services, which are the most irreversible of all losses. Just one element of biodiversity, species
diversity, is disappearing at a rate estimated to be 1000 to 10,000 times the "background" rate, which
is the more or less constant extinction rate that biologists presume to occur naturally over
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2. The Problem Of Population And Growth Essay
Population and growth is a massive issue in the world today. It has held geographers' interest for
several years. There has been discussion and debate over the max amount of people that the world
can sustain. Some geographers believe that the world is already overpopulated, while others believe
that we are working toward a serious overpopulation problem in the future. One thing that everyone
can agree on is some countries and regions, such as China, are vastly over populated, and other
countries and regions, such as Europe and Japan, are experiences issues with population decline. In
all three cases there are external and internal contributors. These places are attempting to deal with
their population crisis in different ways, such as child incentive policies, population control policies,
and even immigration policies.
Demographic transition is defined as a model that describes the stages of population change within
a country. The country will start out having a high birth rate, high death rate, and low rate of
natural increase; then moves through a middle stage of high birth rate, low death rate, and high rate
of natural increase. Finally, the country will reach the third and final stage of a low birth rate, low
or medium death rate, and low or negative rate of population increase (Hobbs G–5). Europe is
considered the real life example of demographic transition. In the third stage of the demographic
transition, they are currently experiencing what is commonly acknowledged
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3. Argumentative Essay On Population Control
Population Control
"The population problem has no technical solution; it requires a fundamental extension in morality."
–Garrett Hardin
"The prediction that spawned a generation of alarmist has now in turned on its head. But the
prospect of an emptier planet is creating its own set of problems." –Ben J Wattenberg
The realization of the world's population crisis is creating new and disturbing ideas by many
people to solve our over population problem. Many ideas are being condoned as well as being
criticized. Examples set by other countries such as China and India should help the United States
establish a policy that is moral and can solve over population, if there is a problem at all. Most
people believe...show more content...
There is intense controversy concerning these questions, whether Earth is over populated and what
measures if any should be taken to slow population growth. To some the planet is already
overpopulated, but others claim that if everyone existed at a minimum survival level, Earth could
support 20–48 billion people. This would require that everyone abide with a replacement fertility
rate. It is a number of children a couple must bear to replace themselves. It is slightly higher than
two children per couple. 2.1 children in MDCs and as high as 2.5 children in some LDCs. This
suggestion does not mean that if the fertility rates are lowered to replacement level that the
population will come to immediate halt. The chain reaction would take 50 years to see if it was
continued with success.
Another suggestion made to help slow population growth is an idea that has many other effects,
ones that society might not be ready for. Its called, "Reducing Births by Empowering Women".
Women tend to have fewer and healthier children and live longer when they have access to
education and to paying jobs outside the home, and when they live in societies in which their
individual rights are not suppressed. Having children later in their life infringes on the amount of
babies they are capable of bearing. However, empowering women by seeking gender equality will
require some major social changes, which will be difficult to achieve. "Using Economic Rewards
and Penalties to Reduce
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4. Population Growth Essay
Population Growth
Over time, human population has increased and unfortunately has caused a lot of problems to the
economy as well as to the environment. Many of the issues that population growth has affected are
climate changes, consumption and waste, family planning, poverty, food and hunger, and changes to
the economy. According to data researched by the United Nations, "the worldpopulation will reach 8
billion to 10 billion by the year 2030" (Livi–Bacci: 1992:31–32 cited in Robbins, 2010:130). Eight to
ten billion is a lot of people living in the world, which unfortunately might cause more problems than
solutions to these issues. The book written by author Richard H. Robbins, Global Problems and the
Culture of Capitalism, includes an...show more content...
(Malthus 1798 cited in Robbins, 2010:132). This view was known as the "Malthusian trap"
(Mshahara, 2017). Everything is related to one another, and if one thing changes, then usually the
other things will too. As Robbins expressed that Malthus' view was seen in Europe, the demand
for food decreased, the population decreased, mortality decreased, and then right after, a rise in
population occurred (Robbins, 2010: 157). Another issue that has caused the environment to
change is deforestation. The land gets cleared for agriculture purposes, to provide room for
growing crops, grazing livestock and urban uses. As explained by Robbins, agriculturists would
clear a few acres of land by cutting down the trees and burning them in a process known as "slash
and burn" (Robbins, 2010: 157). As individuals can see, population growth has done some negative
changes to the earth.
Another result that has occurred from population growth is a change in consumption and waste. This
subject has arguments on population growth hindering economic development as well as not
affecting it at all. As argued by Robbins, (Robbins 2010: 133–134) population growth has caused a
high demand for resources, such as water, food, and fuel. With population growing, that is why some
communities are dealing with famine, poverty and an increase in mortality rates. According to
Massimi Livi–Bacci, (Livi–Bacci, 1992: 145 cited in Robbins, 2010: 134) population growth has not
had an effect on the economy.
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5. The Problem of Population Growth and the Solution of Population Planning
INTRODUCTION
Human population growth, overpopulation, and earth's biological carrying capacity have been
concerns of scientists for many years. In 1679 Antoni van Leeuwenhoek estimated that the maximum
number of people Earth can support is 13.4 billion and estimates have continued to vary drastically
since then (Cohen, 1995). There are many ecological indicators, including desertification and water
problems, which point to the likelihood that we are approaching our limit. There are many sub
issues within this overall problem that must be addressed in order to work towards solving this
problem, including sustainable living, water shortages, etc. However,...show more content...
This was then multiplied by the area of the region and then all the regions were summed. Another
method used by analysts was fitting mathematical curves to historical population sizes and
extrapolating them into the future. A third method was to focus on a single assumed constraint on
population, such as food, and how much of that constraint is needed for survival. However, this
method does not take into account other constraints. A fourth method used was to reduce multiple
requirements needed for survival to the amount of a single factor. For example, food, paper, timber,
etc. were reduced to the area of land required to grow or produce them. A fifth method used involves
the idea of population size being constrained by multiple independent factors, or the sum total of
constraints. Liebig's law of the minimum is used here, which states that the population size of a
species is constrained by whatever resource is in shortest supply. The sixth method used involves the
idea that population size is constrained by multiple interdependent factors and scientists have used
system models to describe this. This method is probably the most accurate since it allows for
changes in endogenous and exogenous variables. It takes into account that carrying capacity is always
changing and is not static. Another idea that has been brought up, but not employed, is that nations
should calculate their human carrying capacity separately. However, resources needed often
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6. Jonathan Crawford Population Problems/Sociology 370 First Mid–Term 19.5/20 Question #2: What
is the demographic transition? What are the characteristics of populations before and after it?
What are the major determinants of the transition, and what are its major consequences? What do
you think will be the next stage of developed nations' demographic development, and why? 5
points The demographic transition is, in essence, the period in which a society transitions from
having a high rate of birth and a high rate of death to having a low rate of birth and a low rate of
death. The demographic transition theory can be explained visually by using a demographic
transition model that attempts to show how developed nations began their transformations around
the 1800's with the lesser developed nations following behind at an increasing rate. The idea
behind all of this is that the more industrialization a nation goes through, the lower the birth rates
and the mortality rates of its citizens becomes. The demographic transition theory itself is
separated into 5 stages. The first stage is the time period prior to an age of industrialization. At this
stage, the rate of births was/is high due to the overwhelming need for a steady flow of workers, or
farm hands in the agricultural areas. The rate of infant mortality also has an effect on the need for a
high birth rate as the family needed to ensure a sustained replenishment in order to remain a
functional unit. The most likely
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7. Population Problems By Garett Hardin
Malthusian view stated that Human Population grows exponentially while the resources consumed
by the population (mainly food)– grows linearly. Thereby, there would be a time when the
Population would exceed the supply of food, and thereby would die–off due to Famine like situation
(positive checks), or alternatively the humans themselves would use "moral restraint"– including late
marriages (negative checks). Malthus is his essay also states that parents must produce only as many
children as they could afford to nourish and maintain after marriage. In his essay "Tragedy of
Commons"– Garett Hardin too speaks on very similar lines. As his abstract reads– The Population
Problem has no technical solution, it requires a fundamental extension in...show more content...
This is a very good argument, had the world been an Equal and Just world, but as we know it, the
world is highly unequal in terms of opportunities and resource distribution. While Hardin himself
practices what he preached– breeding 4 children– because he and his wife, had the capability to
nurture them– but states that a poor man– must refrain from breeding more than the number of
children he can nurture. Hardin also specifies the way of Inheritance to be unjust– as "an idiot can
inherit millions"– and how genetic recombination could make a mockery of the doctrine of "like
father, like son". Although Hardin does not talk in great detail in this essay as to the plans that he
proposes for addressing this population issue– he says that– "The alternative to the commons is too
horrifying to contemplate. Injustice is preferable to total ruin." He indicates through the example of
Kingsley Davis– how coercion could be necessary– even if it is not unanimously agreed upon! From
his Essay, it is evident that Hardin is not unaware of Technological advancements that could alter the
resources vs population issues. But why then does Hardin not consider Boserup's Theory? Is there
something more than what Hardin has expressed– is a question that that I am trying to find an answer
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8. Population: The Growing Problem Essay
Population: The Growing Problem
History of Earth's Population
From the beginning of time until 1850, the world population had been steadily growing until it
finally reached the point of one billion people. Hurray for our species, we are successful and have
been able to make adaptations in order to survive! Then, only 80 years later, the world population
doubled to a whopping 2 billion citizens. After that, the doubling time was sliced once again. By
1960, just thirty years later, three billion people called Earth "home." Seventeen year later, in 1977,
the world population hit four billion people. In 1986, nine short years later, we reached a population
of 5 billion inhabitants. Sometime in the next few years, we are looking at...show more content...
Malthus' predictions and preaching about famine were a bit of foreshadowing of the tragic Irish
Famine in the 1840s. When failure of the potato crop occurred for several successive years, this
produced a devastating famine. "Between 1841 and 1851, Ireland's population fell from 8.2 million
to 6.6 million through starvation [and] disease..." (Grolier Electronic Dictionary 1996). Also, an
even more explicit example of Malthus' warnings happened in China between 1850 and 1890
when 50 million to 70 million people died as a result of a successive string of famines. Granted, the
Taiping Rebellion added to the carnage, but the bottom line is that people were hungry and did not
have adequate food to survive (Scanlon 1997).
In 1955, Karl Sax was Professor of botany at Harvard University and published a public warning
about the implications of overpopulation in the book Standing Room Only. In this book, Sax warns
the human race about the grave danger with which we are faced. When describing the current
situation, then a population of 2.4 billion, and the speed at which humans are reproducing, he
cautions the reader by predicting that "...at these current rates, the world population could reach
4,000 million by the end of the century" (Sax 1955). This milestone of 4 billion people was reached
only twenty–two years after publication of this prediction (Davidson 1995).
Current Understanding of the
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9. Italy Overpopulation Essay
Italy's Population Problems and Possibilities
Italy, a beautiful country which currently received a couple seismic surface waves or on a lighter
note an earthquake. As we all know our earth is small, so small that we are too much. Global
warming is also affecting our earth, making more natural disasters happen.
Speaking logically we should control the earth's population, but speaking in an emotionally friendly
way we should not control it. Over 200 people died in Italy's recent earthquake which reached the
magnitude of 6.2. With a density of 203 people per square kilometer, and Italy being the 23rd most
populated country, Italy has pretty good population level, the reason why it is a bit overpopulated is
because of the illegal immigrants
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10. Population Growth Problems
The global rate of human population growth peaked around 1963. However, the number of people
living on Earth and sharing scarce resources like water and food has grown by more than two–thirds
since then. Population growth causes multiple environmental problems, such as the clearing of
rainforests, the loss of thousands of plant and wildlife species, an increase in greenhouse gas
emissions. In our class, we addressed few philosophical positions and arguments about population
and environment issues from each author. They tried to find out root causes of population growth
and solve the problems behind. In this paper, I would like to discuss two main arguments of
environmental issues that caused by population growth. The first argument is from E. Ravenstein's
theory about migration affect environment and economy. The consequences of climate change on
migrant on present humanity with an unprecedented challenge. Ernst Ravenstein established a
theory of human migration in the 1880s that still forms the basis for modern migration theory. It
considered the implications of distance and different types of migrant, with women more likely than
men to migrate within the country of their birth but less likely than men to leave the country of their
birth. The theories are as follows: (From lecturer)
Every migration flow generates a return or counter–migration.
The majority of migrants move a short distance.
Migrants who move longer distances tend to choose big–city destinations
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11. The Human Population Essay
The Human Population By some, the human population is viewed as an environmental problem.
There are also those who do not view it as a problem. In my opinion the human population is not
yet, but is soon becoming a large problem. This is because very soon we will run out of room and
resources for the amount of people who will be living on this planet. Because the world's population
is increasing at a rate between one and two percent, we expect it to double within the next 35 to
70 years. At this rate it will be impossible to support every living being on earth. In fact, many people
starve to death each day. Although this happens in America, this starvation most often occurs inthird
world countries. This is because these countries are...show more content...
Even selecting the people I though should be killed would be impossible for me. I believe many
people would also have this problem. Even if some one could be found who was comfortable
selecting and killing people, who is to say that this person is correct. I don't believe that any human
has the right to decide who should die in a situation like this. Well then, how should we go about
solving this problem? Are acts of Mother Nature such as AIDS, earthquakes, etc. our world's way of
dealing with this problem? Is this not natural selection?
Although the starvation of these third world peoples is a horrible thing, I believe that changing it
is not necessarily the answer. We now know that we need to do something about the rapid growth
of our population. Are the growth and death rates, the poverty and starvation in the countries, our
earth's way of doing that? Or even if it is not, is it not an answer? Do we really need to worry
about the conditions in these countries? We need to slow down he growth of the population and
that is exactly what is happening. Although it sounds like a horrible thing to say, the world is in
danger and needs help. The world however is doing fine right now. It is within the next 70 years
that we will begin to see and feel the actual consequences of having a population too large for the
earth to support. In my opinion it is a very good idea to start working on this problem now, because
when it becomes a reality, it may be
too
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12. Population Growth Essay
Population Growth
Population Growth is becoming a huge issue in our country and world today. The reason that it has
become such a pressing issue is that our growing population needs a growing economy and has
growing needs. As our population grows, the needs of the population become bigger. Very large
population becomes a problem when there isn't enough space to live, and not enough food and
supplies to live off of. We can predict population size in thefuture by examining the recent past.
This can give us good ideas about what we will have to do to accommodate all of the people in the
US and the world, or start to put restrictions on babies being born like our fellow country China. In
this activity we were given the...show more content...
The errors in the linear model were random, but not off by much each different year. The population
wasn't off by more than 2,000 people at most in one year. Using the linear model we made some
predictions like what will the population being the year 2000? By putting the equation into the
calculator and going into the table, we predicted that in the year 2000 the population would be 2.76
billion. Another prediction that was made was what will the population be when I retire. Most people
retire when they are about sixty– five, so that would be in the year 2045. The population in 2045 is
predicted to be 3.8 billion according to the linear model. The population will double from the
current population in the year 2114. The population will then be 5.52 billion. One thing that I am
concerned about is how high the population will be when my children are growing up. I plan to
have children when I am about 27 so when my child is about 20, the year will be 2027 and the
population will be 3.4 billion. Next we did the same procedure for the world population. In this case,
the exponential model fit the data more efficiently. The equation was 2,552,666,405 =
1.018,677,273^x, r = .998328246. The world population for the year 2000 is will be 6.44 billion.
Upon retiring the world population will be 1.5 trillion people. Comparing the two models the
exponential model makes sense because the population is growing at such a rapid rate. The
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13. Impact Of Overpopulation On The Society Essay
Impacts of Overpopulation The simple fact that humans do not live in isolation makes it necessary
for them to institute structures of living such as families, tribes, and contemporary nations and other
groupings of societies. Human live in groups as they attempt to share the available space, resources,
and other interests. Therefore, coexistence is an inevitable element of nature, there has to be a
peaceful relationship, for instance, between humans and animals to guarantee the survival of both
groups. Humans are the dominating species that control the earth. The activities and variations of
their interests and opinions have significant impacts on the rest of the planet. While each person has
basic needs, they have to be controlled not to overstep on the needs of others. According to Esteban
and Max, "Between 1900 and 2000 the increase in world population was three times greater than the
entire previous history of humanity– an increase from 1.5 to 6.1 billion in just 100 years". Human's
population has grown dramatically during last century, and it is also increasing in enormous number
nowadays. For human's existence, overpopulation has huge influences on human societies, and
natural environment. Humans have concerned themselves with the controversy of population
changes since ancient time. Among the earliest detailed record of population levels/numbers is the
census of Rome for the purposes of tax collection and food reserve issues arising during extreme
conditions (Edgar
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14. Essay on The Problems of Over Population
The Problems of Over Population
There are several problems that affect the world today: war, crime, pollution, and several others.
Overpopulation is a serious dilemma that is growing every year, every minute, and every second. It
is the root of most, if not all, of the world's problems1. It is the greatest global crisis facing humanity
in the twenty–first century. Overpopulation is the major global problem because of several reasons.
Most of the problems we have today, such as ocean depletion, food shortages, water shortages, air
pollution, water pollution, and global warming are the effects of overpopulation2. The more people
there are, the more resources consumed and the more waste created. A child born today in the United
States for...show more content...
Mankind is increasing the greenhouse gas levels by burning fossil fuels and deforesting the earth7.
As the population increases, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases rise rapidly which
affect the ability of the outgoing energy to pass through the atmosphere, [which] effectively heats
the Earth8. Another predicament is the acid rain created by air pollution, which in turn, is
created by the increasing population. Acid rain's spread and damage involves weather, soil, and
the life cycles of plants and animals on the land9. Air pollution is created from the burning of
fossil fuels in cars, trucks, planes, and homes. The smoke and fumes rise into the atmosphere and
combine with the moisture in the air to form acid rain10. As it rains, it eats away on things they
settle on and contaminates lakes, drinkable water, which affect plants and animals11.
Overpopulation also causes conflict. If many people live very closely together, there is a greater
chance of conflict, which results in higher crime and even sometimes war12. This is why
overpopulation is the major global problem. There are several things that cause this problem to
come about. A major cause is the rise of living standards as the world approaches the twenty–first
century, which resulted from the industrial revolution. With the help of medicine, better doctors,
better housing, and a better way of life than before, the living standards are raised, which increases
life
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15. Human Population Problems
What is something that continues to grow every second of each and every day? The answer to
the question is the human population. The current human population is around 7.2 billion and is
expected to grow by one billion in the next twelve years. Also, it is supposed to reach over nine
billion by the year 2050. This may not seem like a big deal, but what many people do not think
about is how we are going to feed all these people. With the population getting this big we will not
only need more food, but we will also have to find new ways to grow it. The reason being is that
when the population gets that big, people will need to have places to live, and this will take away
from farmland to grow on. With farmers having less farmland that means that they can not grow as
many crops as they have in years prior. There is only one logical solution to the problems above.
The solution is Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). Agenetically modified organism is where a
scientist takes genetic tissue from one species and replaces it with the tissue of another. For example,
they can take the genetic tissue from corn and replace it with genetic tissue from another plant like
soybeans. They do this to allow plants to grow faster, produce more in smaller plots of land, help the
environment, and to help plants thrive in certain environments. When a scientist replaces genetic
structure of one plant with that from another it changes the original plant into something new.
Scientist can
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16. The Problem Of Expanding Population Essay
The topic of expanding population is one both of wonder and catastrophe, as civilizations have risen
and fallen throughout time. Collapse (Diamond) touches on this concept of population growth (or
change) often, especially because a civilization is, after all, nothing without its population. Using
Collapse, we can quickly start to analyze what a growing population entails. Early on, Diamond
touches upon the implications of an expanding population. When a civilization starts to have a high
rate of growth, they must start to use more aggressive and intensive agricultural practices in order to
grow enough food to sustain the population, which can cause overuse and eventual abandonment of
the land. As Diamond wrote, "Consequences [of a fast rising population] for society included food
shortages, starvation, wars among too many people fighting for too few resources, and overthrows
of governing elites by disillusioned masses. Eventually, population decreased through starvation,
war, or disease, and society lost some of the political, economic, and cultural complexity that it had
developed at its peak." (Diamond. pg6). If a culture or society loses too much of the cultural
complexity they have, that civilization may fall apart forever. However, there has been a huge
change in the world within the last 100 years. A conjunction of technology, globalization, and
population growth– which has allowed a global food market to be created. This global food market is
more or less an "end"
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17. The Population Problem Essay
The Population Problem
Imagine a world where there isn't enough clean water to drink and there isn't ample food to eat.
We have used up most of the resources that we require to survive. What little that is left is so
polluted that it is not fit to be used. Is this our future? What are we doing to keep this from
happening? We recycle, we ride our bikes, we compost, but is this enough? It is up to us to find a
cure to the ailment that is destroying our planet. We only have one Earth to sustain the entire
human race for the rest of its existence. Will we be find a way to continue our survival, or will we
be the cause of our own destruction? Only time will tell, but this time may be upon us sooner than
we imagine if we do not start...show more content...
People seem to think that we can continue to live any way that we please without consequence.
We have no idea how many people this world can support and if we continue living as though we
are conducting a science experiment, we may end up destroying ourselves. If we have too many
people, we may end up using all or most of the resources like clean water and oil. At that point
there is no turning back on the future generations that will need to survive on what we leave
behind. The Assyrian Empire's decline was partly due to poor planning and the eventual
exhaustion of resources needed to sustain their basic needs. Paul and Ehrlich write that "Unlike
regional ecological collapses experienced in the past (such as Mesopotamia's), this time the
collapse would be global." We have the power to make sure that this does not happen to us. If we
do what is necessary in time to ensure our survival is the question. Thomas Malthus is the author of
An Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future of Society written in 1798. This
essay is often quoted by those concerned by population growth. Malthus' theory of the world's
population growing faster each year is called The Malthusian growth model. His theory claims that
the world's food production can not keep up with the population's needs. The predictions of the
world running out of resources have been considered overly pessimistic by some, and simply
unrealistic by others. I
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18. The Population Problem Essay
The Population Problem
Two hundred years ago, Thomas Malthus, in An Essay on the Principle of
Population, reached the conclusion that the number of people in the world will increase
exponentially, while the ability to feed these people will only increase arithmetically (21). Current
evidence shows that this theory may not be far from the truth. For example, between 1950 and 1984,
the total amount of grain produced more than doubled, much more than the increase in population in
those 34 years. More recently though, these statistics have become reversed.
From 1950 to 1984, the amount of grain increased at 3 percent annually. Yet, from 1984 to 1993,
grain production had grown at barely 1 percent per year, a decrease in grain production per...show
more content...
More people means more waste, more pollution, and more development. With this taken into
consideration, it seems that Hardin's teachings should no longer fall on deaf ears. When discussing
the issue of population, it is important to note that it is one of the most controversial issues facing
the world today. Population growth, like many other environmental issues, has two sides. One side
will claim that the population explosion is only a myth, while the other side will argue that the
population explosion is reality. Because of this, statistics concerning this subject vary widely. But, in
order to persuade, it is necessary to take one side or the other. Thus, statistics may be questioned as
to their validity, even though the statistics come from credible sources.
Lifeboat Ethics
The United States is the most populous country in the world, behind only China and India. Unlike
China and India though, the United States is the fastest growing industrialized nation. The United
States' population expands so quickly because of the imbalance between migration and immigration,
and births and deaths. For example, in 1992, 4.1 million babies were born. Weighing this statistic
against the number of deaths and the number of people who entered and left the country, the result
was that the United States obtained 2.8 million more people than it had gotten rid of (Douglis 12).
Population increases place great strain on the American society and more particularly it
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