Movie directors predicting humanity coming to an end because of population density may not be as preposterous as society thought. Population is defined as the amount of same species sustaining in a certain region, for humans that would be Earth. The graphical representation of human population increase from the beginning of history was a slightly inclined horizontal line, however that all changed after the industrial revolution (more industry, jobs, sustainability, etc.) and from that moment on to present day it has changed into a slightly inclined vertical line. Just taking a glance at population numbers since 1997, where it was approximately 5.9 billion, to 2015 where it is approximately 7.3 billion, means an increase of 1.4 billion, in just eighteen years. At such an exponential increase rate, population density will have a negative impact on Earth. Using technology, it has been determined that Earth has the natural resources to sustain ten billion people before a resource crisis. The population increase only accounts for human population, if other species are accounted for including chickens, cows, pigs, etc. the sustainability number decreases. Furthermore, scientists have determined that if population continues to increase at such an exponential rate, by 2050 the population will have reached approximately 10 billion. The increase in population will effect water, food, and energy supplies. Although, Nobel Peace Prize honoree Norman Borlaug contributed to the grain
Dr. Forsyth implements plenty of evidence as well as proven statistics to back up his outlook on these issues. The growth of human population is happening at an exponential rate, implying that in a short period of time population growth will double. “We find it difficult to comprehend exponential growth, but it may prove to be our fatal blind spot” [3]. When analysing the world’s population over a long period of time, it took roughly 19,000 years for the world’s population to go from 5million people to 500 million people in 1500 A.D. [4] With an estimated population of 7.5 billion people [5], for a period less than 1000 years, population increased more than 1500 times its size than it was in the 1500’s. In addition, on a more minute scale of time, in 1950 the world’s population was roughly 2.5 billion people [6] in merely 50 years the world’s population has tripled. With these statics, it is evident that the world’s population is increasing at an incomprehensive rate. With populations at their peak, overconsumption is another problem this world faces, as Dr. Forsyth affirms “humans consume far more than their fair share of the Earth’s natural productivity.”[7] Due to this over consumption of resources, there is a vast demand for cheap food which results in the clear cutting of large forest to generate room for new plantations of food. When doing so, humans destroy habitats that
For many years it has been thought that the maximum human population would be determined by the amount of drinkable fresh water. Earth can only hold, manage, and support so many people. This is called carrying capacity. If we go over this carrying capacity it could cause worldwide issues with the environment along with many other issues. For example if the human population goes over the carrying capacity of the earth then problems like lack of clean drinkable water, lack of land that humans could live on or occupy, and lack of available jobs could become much more serious and have terrible effects on the system which everything works.
“The Wreck of Time,” written by Annie Dillard, illustrates societies battle with population. Dillard emphasizes the disasters that savage our world. According to the author, “ By moderate figures, the dead outnumber us about fourteen to one. The dead will always outnumber the living.” (Dillard 168) The amount of natural or man-made catastrophes do not affect the population as much as we claim. Dillards opinions are supported with facts throughout her essay, but readers are still left to question, why is our world considered to be overpopulated? Perhaps it is time for our society to consider Earth is not overpopulated in terms of people, but in resources. In addition, humans are struggling to grasp that other ecosystems are also being affected. With the introduction of Darwinism (the theory of evolution, by natural selections), humans are programed with the mentality of “survival of the fittest” forcing our humanity to evolve. Although evolution proved to be beneficial, as our immune system and way of life improved, we sacrificed our natural resources along the way. The problem with our society is not the lack of knowledge, but the ignorance and selfishness within our society. Overpopulation, threatened by the lack of resources, intimidates humans to disrupt biodiversity as we know it. (1) Man-made changes jeopardize our biodiversity. (2) As a result, the Earth’s resources are being depleted due to rapid consumption. (3) Even though we lack resources,
In The Martian book, Mark was already stranded on mars making this fairly possible with the large amount of profanity used in the first few lines. The mission to Ares 3 was broadcasted for everyone in the world to see, for it was the first time man would stand on mars. The crew members were Mark Watney, Martinez, Beck, Johanssen, and Vogel, Mark Being the main character. Everything on mars seemed to be going to plan, the crew was collecting rocks and samples until a signal came from earth which pretty much said there is a dust storm coming your way and you all need to leave now.
In the short story "2BR02B" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., population balance overrules all aspects of a persons' life as well as the society that they live in. In order for more people to be brought into the world, others must die or be killed off to maintain what is thought to be an ideal population of humans on the planet. The quote "We humans have become a disease, the Human Pox" by Dave Foreman relates to this story exceptionally well because it basically implies that humans are rapidly multiplying and that if we do not take growth rate into consideration, soon enough, our population is going to be too high for anything to function in the correct manner. If we have a lot of people, it means that there will be an increase in the amount of resources
The human population rate has changed throughout the ages. By looking at the table we were given the human population has increased heaps from 2000 years ago. If we look at our ancestors they lived with a small existence but this has changed as we have developed and there is more agriculture in this world. Population grew very slowly in the 1000 A.D. also decreased after the Black Death causing large numbers of people wiped out. Then in the 1800 A.D. the industrial revolution came, soon living standards were raised and there was food shortage with the population. In 1927 medicine was introduced this meant that there was increased life expectancy, so the human population grew more. There was more advantages from agriculture, medicine and sanitation
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
The indefinite growth of the human population, has monumental impacts on the natural environment, not only in the UK, but around the globe. Architecturally, the entire process of designing and constructing a building, both domestic and not, can lead to the rapid exhaustion of natural resources across the planet. Building with environmental design strategies in mind not only combats the impact we as humans have on the natural environment, but also has considerable economic benefits, due to lower running costs of buildings and advanced occupant productivity. There are also many social benefits, such as improved air quality which resultantly leads too enhanced health of a buildings occupants.
Throughout the last few hundred years, humans have built a foundation. Compared to all of the other animal species on Earth, humans are the most intelligent. We have built houses everywhere, developed a system to sustain ourselves, and now inhabit almost every piece of land on earth. Humans are smart, strong, and know how to fend for themselves. But, humans have a tendency to take it too far, and we have already done so. There have been numerous advancements over the past few hundred years which could ultimately lead to the downfall of the human race. The main issue is overpopulation due to the advancements in technology and general knowledge. The statistics from an article by Kenneth Smail show that “In the year 1900, there were almost 2 billion humans living on Earth. Throughout the 1960’s, the baby boom, there were 3 billion humans on Earth. Today in 2016, there are just over 7 billion humans living on Earth.” Currently, we have taken up just over half of all available land on this planet, and with increased amounts of people having kids, our population will only increase. Overpopulation is becoming a serious problem all around the world, especially in countries such as China and India. There are many global problems associated with overpopulation that are becoming more and more prevalent, which will all have dangerous effects on the foundation that humans have
Death rates for the younger populations, as shown by the collected data, were higher in both sexes, but more so in the males. This can be for a variety of reasons, but most likely, the younger males were involved in World War II, or even World War I, or worked in factories where safety standards were by far underrated in comparison to today’s standards. Younger females were also suffering shorter life spans in reproductive age (about 20-50 years). This may have been caused by the same things that caused the high mortality rate in the males of the same age, but also, childbirth and hospital techniques which while maybe advanced for the time, were severely outdated when looked at from today’s standards. This data was fairly inconclusive for infant mortality rates, mostly showing that there was little to no mortality rate in the younger population. The data that did show infant mortality did only show a mortality rate prior to 1950, which as stated, had a lot to do with substandard to today’s procedures and lower rates of diseases
Trends in population have much to do with the planning and dynamics of the delivery of healthcare. Population size and demographic characteristics as well as births and deaths, are a basic starting point for assessing the need for health services in a population (Williams & Torrens, 2008). According to Williams & Torrens (2008), the dynamics of population are the most fundamental determinants of the need, demand, and use of health care services. The size and age composition of a population have a tremendous impact on total health services use as well as on the distribution of the use of specific services.Therefore, trends in population dynamics, including population size and demographic characteristics as well as births and deaths, are a basic starting point for assessing the need for health services in a population (Williams & Torrens, 2008).
The population is not a time bomb that is about to destroy humanity. According to Malthus, we would not be able to keep the food production rate at the same level that population was growing but he was wrong. As time past we had many revolutions the helped it keep up the pace of the population, also we now in the current day have enough technology to make sure this never happens. Another reason we will not run out of food is that we can use new resources that we have never used in the past like bugs who contain the nutrients we need to live. The next reason we are not doomed is that the Crude birth rate and death rate along with fertility rate has been decreasing with the education we have been able to gain. Even though Another reason why
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.
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
The world is home to millions of species both large and small that are able to thrive perfectly in their environments. All living creatures on this earth contribute in some way to the ecosystem that we all are a part of. Unfortunately, the one species that has the greatest control of the earth is us, the homosapiens. Modern humans began to develop nearly 200 000 years ago and ever since then populations of homosapiens have spread across the entire world. Almost every environment we as humans have come across has in time had to change to try and meet the needs of all the species that populate the earth together with the enormously increased human population. Sadly the human population covers over 80% of the earth’s surface with various