Assignment 1: Social Impact of Population Growth The United Nations has hired you to be a consultant on global issues. One of the challenges is assessing the impact of population growth. There is no question that the world population will grow dramatically in the next decade throughout many countries of the world. The members of the UN are working to understand the impact that population growth has on society, specifically in developing countries. Your first project with the UN is to develop a whitepaper on three issues related to the population growth faced by one of these countries. Read the Case Study and provide an assessment based on the questions below. (For a brief list of resources for this assignment, please see the end of the course guide.) II. Overview Our obsession with continual economic growth deters us from studying the role that an expanding population plays in global warming. [1] About 3 billion years ago, the Earth suffered through a mass extinction caused by catastrophic volcanic activity in Siberia and wildfires that covered the entire planet. Since then, four more extinctions have eradicated up to 80% of all species each time. The world’s climatologists and scientists overwhelmingly agree that we are now on the verge of a sixth mass event that, over the next few tens of thousands of years, will wipe out nearly all living species on Earth — including mankind. This is not the stuff of science fiction or speculation, but rather the studied view of the people who are most qualified to make this kind of assessment. As anthropologist Richard Leaky, author of The Sixth Extinction ,[2] wrote in 1995, “ Homo sapiens might not only be the agent of the sixth extinction, but also risks being one of its victims.” This brings us to two issues worthy of reflection:  Does the rate at which people are reproducing need to be controlled to save the environment?  To what extent does human population growth impact global warming... and what can be done about it?[3]  The answer to the first is quite simply “yes,” but the solution to the second is more problematic. The damage humans are doing to their climate is ruining the atmosphere surrounding their planet. At the rate this damage is increasing, at some point in the future there will be no atmosphere left to protect life on Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Compared to other planets in our solar system, Earth has mild temperatures, thanks largely to the protective gases of its atmosphere. However, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (around 1775), those gases have become stuck in the atmosphere, causing heat radiating from the sun to reflect back to Earth (rather than exiting to space). The result is that oceans have become warmer and glaciers are melting, including parts of Antarctica. If we think of that continent as the stopper in a bottle, its melting away will release all the water it is holding back. This will raise sea levels to uncontrollable lev.

1. Assignment 1: Social Impact of Population Growth
The United Nations has hired you to be a consultant on global
issues. One of the challenges is assessing the impact of
population growth. There is no question that the world
population will grow dramatically in the next decade throughout
many countries of the world. The members of the UN are
working to understand the impact that population growth has on
society, specifically in developing countries. Your first project
with the UN is to develop a whitepaper on three issues related
to the population growth faced by one of these countries. Read
the Case Study and provide an assessment based on the
questions below.
(For a brief list of resources for this assignment, please see the
end of the course guide.)
II.
Overview
Our
obsession with continual economic growth deters us from
studying the role that an expanding population plays in global
warming.
[1]
About 3 billion years ago, the Earth suffered through a mass
extinction caused by catastrophic volcanic activity in Siberia
and wildfires that covered the entire planet. Since then, four
more extinctions have eradicated up to 80% of all species each
time. The world’s climatologists and scientists overwhelmingly

2. agree that we are now on the verge of a sixth mass event that,
over the next few tens of thousands of years, will wipe out
nearly all living species on Earth — including mankind.
This is not the stuff of science fiction or speculation, but rather
the studied view of the people who are most qualified to make
this kind of assessment. As anthropologist Richard Leaky,
author of
The Sixth Extinction
,[2] wrote in 1995, “
Homo sapiens
might not only be the agent of the sixth extinction, but also
risks being one of its victims.”
This brings us to two issues worthy of reflection:
Does the rate at which people are reproducing need to be
controlled to save the environment?
To what extent does human population growth impact global
warming... and what can be done about it?[3]
The answer to the first is quite simply “yes,” but the solution to
the second is more problematic. The damage humans are doing
to their climate is ruining the atmosphere surrounding their
planet. At the rate this damage is increasing, at some point in
the future there will be no atmosphere left to protect life on
Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Compared to other
planets in our solar system, Earth has mild temperatures, thanks
largely to the protective gases of its atmosphere.
However, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution
(around 1775), those gases have become stuck in the
atmosphere, causing heat radiating from the sun to reflect back
to Earth (rather than exiting to space). The result is that oceans
have become warmer and glaciers are melting, including parts

3. of Antarctica. If we think of that continent as the stopper in a
bottle, its melting away will release all the water it is holding
back. This will raise sea levels to uncontrollable levels and
flood coastal regions for miles inland.
The two main culprits for this warming trend are carbon dioxide
(CO2) and methane. These gases, called
greenhouse gases
, are trapped by the Earth’s atmosphere and, in turn, heat up the
entire planet. It is worth noting that warming oceans are killing
off kelp beds throughout the Earth's oceans and coastlines at a
prodigious rate. Not only do hundreds of millions of people
depend on the fish that thrive on this ecosystem, but kelp is a
natural absorbent of CO2. It purifies both the water around the
kelp and the air we breathe.
Population growth that consumes natural resources is partially
to blame for the release of greenhouse gases, as are
deforestation, soil erosion, and farming (overturned dirt releases
CO2). The real issue, however, is the burning of fossil fuels
(hydrocarbons) such as coal oil and natural gas, which have
been produced by the organic remains of prehistoric organisms.
The release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) such as refrigerants
(used to cool the air in air conditioners and refrigerators),
propellants in aerosol sprays, and solvents also contribute
heavily to the depletion of the ozone layer in the Earth’s
stratosphere. The stratosphere is responsible for filtering out
much of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, preventing humans from
burning to death.
Continuing to release these gases and CFCs into the atmosphere
at these rates will have catastrophic effects on the Earth’s
ecosystems and its level of biodiversity. Temperatures will
warm by about two degrees Fahrenheit, changing weather
patterns for the worse across the globe. In December 2017, the
World Bank stated, “Climate change is an acute threat to global

4. development and efforts to end poverty. Without urgent action,
climate impacts could push an additional 100 million people
into poverty by 2030."[4]
II.
Case Assessment
The world’s population is expanding at such a rate that some
natural resources are being stripped from the environment. This
case study deals with how global institutions are working to
prevent the loss of these resources. It also deals with, in effect,
the consequences of not having access to these resources.
As the first section of your whitepaper for the UN, research the
impact of population growth on society. Write a minimum of
four pages
assessing the impact, citing at least five credible sources in
your research. As you compose the whitepaper, review the
United Nations list of developing countries (available on the
United Nations website). Select one country from the UN
developing countries list to use as an example throughout your
assessment. Please include:
A cover page with your name, title of course, date, and the
name of your instructor
A one-half page introduction
A middle section that is numbered and divided into three one-
page sections. Each of these sections should answer one of the
following questions:

5. What are greenhouse gases? How do they contribute to global
warming?
What kinds of economic, security, political, and other
challenges do these emissions pose to the people of the
developing world, and who are the biggest offenders?
Is there any way to control the growth of population on a global
level?
A one-half page conclusion
Cite at least five credible sources, excluding Wikipedia,
dictionaries and encyclopedias for your assessment.
For a brief list of resources for this assignment, please see the
end of the course guide.
This course requires use of you have any questions about the
assignment or the
Strayer Writing Standards
. The format is different compared to other Strayer University
courses. Please take a moment to review the writing standards
for details. (
Note:
You will be prompted to enter your Blackboard login
credentials to view these standards.)
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this
assignment are:
Evaluate the impacts of population growth and its negative

6. impacts on global societies while considering multiple
perspectives.
[1] George Gitlitz, ‘The Climate Problem – But Don’t Mention
Population,’
Berkeleyside
, June 19, 2018.
[2]
Discover Magazine
, July/August 2018, p. 55
[3] Larry LeDoux, ‘Does Population Growth Impact Climate
Change,’
Scientific American
, September 2018.
[4] Bill McKibben, ‘A Very Grim Forecast,’ Review Article of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
Global Warming of 1.5°C: An IPCC Special Report
, in
The New York Review of Books
, Vol. LXV, No. 18, November 22, 2018, p. 4.