The Ecological Footprint Of The Human Race

Population Growth is an issue that exists in today’s world that needs to be confronted before it becomes out of hand. The population itself has reached overwhelming numbers making it a problem that could turn to be dangerous. The amount of humans that the earth can support or the carrying capacity is slowly rising but at a much slower rate than the population growth rate. The increasing growth rate has its negative effects environmentally, agriculturally, socially, and economically and also has its positive effects nationally, and economically. The government is brainstorming and trying to come up with ways to decrease

“Many current discussions about sustainability focus on the ways in which human activity...can be maintained in the future without exhausting all of our current resources… there has been a close correlation between the growth of human society and environmental degradation - as communities grow, the environment often declines” (603).

The article by Dennis Dimick brings up some very good points about the increasing population. He states that with our current population of 7 billion people, we currently do not have enough food to eat. With the population increasing day-by-day, we will face more shortage in the future. He also brings up the issue of natural resources. We are currently using so much natural resources that we will run out very soon. The use of natural resources tend to increase with increase in social standing (wealth).

Imagine a world cluttered with trash, once beautiful beaches and parks now overflowing with garbage. Roads no longer driveable, air no longer clean. Masks will be worn, and disease is on the rise. Now, imagine if you could have prevented this. I believe recycling is the first step. As of 2006 America is in the lead for producing the most waste, producing 236 million tons annually. Not only are we producing the most waste but by 2100 scientists estimate the amount will triple which will have serious effects on the Earth. Both physical effects and fiscal which means public services and government budgets will be impacted. Our planet is already feeling the effects of pollution at the rate we're going we won't be able to stop the damage nor repair

We have become a very wasteful society where it seems as if everything is disposable; as a society, we need to be conscious of just how much waste we produce and what we are able to do to reduce that amount to protect our environment.

No matter how many people do claim overpopulation is not a relevant issue, it very much is because of the simple fact that starvation and pollution are very real and existing issues that are ultimately offset by overpopulation. In an article titled “Overpopulation Is Not the Problem,” author Erle C. Ellis uses the analogy “Like bacteria in a petri dish, our exploding numbers are reaching the limits of a finite planet, with dire consequences,” to argue that overpopulation is not a problem by stating the opposing claim. “We are nothing like bacteria in a petri dish,” Mr. Ellis solemnly asserts, “...these claims demonstrate a profound misunderstanding of the ecology of human systems. The conditions that sustain humanity are not natural and never have been. Since prehistory, human populations have used technologies and engineered ecosystems to sustain

Research physicist for the American Center for International Policy Studies, Gioietta Kuo, in her article “Mega Crisis? Overpopulation is the Problem” describes the possibility of a global mega-crisis, a “perfect storm” of political, economic, and environmental instability resulting from overpopulation and leading to the extinction of mankind (Kuo, 23). The purpose of Kuo’s article is to stress the fact that overpopulation has been over looked as the source of many of the problems afflicting the world today, including climate change, food and water scarcity, environmental degradation, as well as other economic and social effects like unemployment. She adopts logos, ethos, and pathos as well as an urgent tone in order to persuade the United Nations, government officials, and the general public to acknowledge the fact the current high population is the main cause of the problems affecting the world today and also to stress that the unchecked population growth will lead to a mega-crisis.

As I mentioned before, the world has been using more than it created especially in the US. The only reason why we Americans can live like we do is because we use resources of other countries. If everyone in the world were to live like the average American, then we would need around 5 Earths to provide for everyone. One way to reduce our footprint would be to use less. Of course, everyone hears that we should reduce, recycle, and reuse, but how many people actually do that. One great example of a place where everything used is completely renewable and eco-friendly is the Govardhan Eco-Village in India. This village, while not possible everywhere, sets the tone for sustainable living. For sustainability they utilize various techniques like organic farming, water conservation, soil biotechnology, and waste management. This village has attracted much attention and has won many awards including the International Green World Award and International Zero Waste Award. Using this as a model, I believe that with serious reform, we can improve our cities and homes to leave a smaller footprint and to become more

his page is a list of countries by ecological footprint. This table is based on 2007 data from the Global Footprint Network published in 2010. Data is given as global hectares per capita. The world-average ecological footprint in 2007 was 2.7 global hectares per person (18.0 billion in total).

My human footprint was always either over or under Japan. But a couple times it was at the highest. I eat a lot of eggs so that made my human footprint worse, because of the electricity and resources to make the egg. It’s a good thing I don’t waste a lot of gas, since I don't really drive any miles. Also because I don’t read any newspapers I’m very much helping the environment, because less carbon dioxide is released. Me drinking 4 soda’s a week isn’t bad but not really helping that much either I guess this one is in the middle. Everything else was either above or below average, so I’d my human footprint is pretty good but not bad at all.

The goal posts on this issue currently represent a clear winning and losing relationship. Holmes Rolston believed that eventually the population increase would result in humanity and mother nature losing. Rolston made this clear in his essay Winning and Losing on Environmental Ethics. He said “But when we come to our senses, we realize that this kind of winning, if it keeps on escalating, is really losing. When we get the goalposts in the right place, we see that we are headed in the wrong direction. Humans will lose, and nature will be destroyed as well.” (Rolston,

“We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Maybe a little Styrofoam … The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas.” – George Carlin. Since 1950 humans have made 8.3+ billion metric tons of plastic, 6.3 metric tons have become waste; only 9% of that waste has been recycled. In the last 50 years, plastic has done more harm than good. If we continue we leave our legacies with this world and leave Earth to restore itself.

It is predicted by the year 2050 the world's population will have increased to over 9 billion people. (International...) If this prediction comes true the world will become overpopulated and cause problems like famine, the world already struggles with feeding the amount of people alive today. A second problem is housing, in underdeveloped countries there is already a struggle with giving people places to live, so companies clear land to build houses but that leads to habitat loss and animal loss. The third reason is disease, if a disease was started and spread when the world was overpopulated the disease could eliminate half of the human population.

Humans tend effect their world in different ways, but one specific way would be the ecological footprint of a human. What does ecological footprint mean? Ecological footprint is the effect of a person, society or community that effects the environment in certain way it could good or bad. People impact the world in different ways some recycle others tend to cut down more trees and threw away their trash on the grass or on the roads. With the lifestyle in the 20th century a lot has changed quick example would be hybrid cars are being manufactured so their could be less pollution in the air. As a result of the horrific past lifestyle of humans that has caused changes to the world, have forced humans to decrease ones ecological footprint.

One of the problems facing our world is population. It began about ten thousand years ago when the humans settled and began farming. The farming provides more food for the people thus making the population grow. Now we are about 6 billion in population and in a few years we will be around 10 to 11 billion. Therefore, our population will