The Population Explosion

Almost two centuries ago, authors such as Thomas Malthus warned that overpopulation could threaten human welfare. More recently, such growth has been occurring at increasingly greater rates. Demographers now project that, if current trends continue, the world's inhabitants could number 8.5 billion within 35 years, and possibly well over 10 billion by the year 2050. Such growth will have adverse affects on both nonrenewable and renewable resources. Moreover, it is certain to cause severe degradation of the environment. Unless humans prove capable of controlling their own reproduction, the species, Homo sapiens, may ultimately be faced with its own extinction.

In 1987, the number of human beings living on the Earth passed the five billion mark. Since about 1600, human population growth has occurred at a "superexponential" rate. This means that in recent history the amount of time required for the population to double in size has become progressively smaller (Fischer 139152). Thus, although the relative rate of population growth has decreased slightly, the annual increases in the sheer number of humans are still growing. At present, the world's population expands by over 90 million each year.

One of the primary causes of this growth is high rates of fertility. Such rates act like "compound interest applied to financial savings ("The environment" 131)." For example, a given couple and their offspring, all of whom believe in bearing

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products at prices high enough to cover their costs, and consumers must either grow or be able to buy sufficient food to meet their nutritional requirements. Regardless of the economics involved though, there are presently two main reasons why food production probably will not increase at exponential rates to meet human demand (Ehrlich et al. 1). For one, increases in food production over the past several centuries have only been achieved at great cost. For the most part, this agricultural expansion has occurred at the expense of arable land. To meet the needs of growing populations, farmers have had to exploit more marginal agricultural areas. In areas with weak soils, farming makes the land vulnerable to water and wind erosion. Other mechanisms by which soils may be damaged include overgrazing and deforestation. Such practices currently result in the loss of approximately 24 billion tons of topsoil annually (Ehrlich et al. 2). It has been estimated that worldwide over 1.2 billion hectares of land have declined in agricultural productivity since 1945. This area is about as large as China and India combined; it amounts to nearly 11% of the Earth's vegetated surface area. Yet another reason why future food production w

Category: Psychology - T