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.) 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 humankind. 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.

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.)
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

2. 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
humankind.
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

3. 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 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

4. (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 development and efforts to
end poverty. Without
urgent action, climate impacts could push an additional 100
million people into poverty
by 2030."[4]
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

5. 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:
1. What are greenhouse gases? How do they contribute to global
warming?
2. 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?
3. 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 new Strayer Writing Standards

6. (SWS). The format is
different than other Strayer University courses. Please take a
moment to review the
SWS documentation 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
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.
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