Our planet’s carrying capacity for prehistoric Homo sapiens was probably near 100 million. However, without their Paleolithic ways of life and high-tech technologies, the population would be much less - possibly a couple tens of millions. The advance of agriculture allowed even larger population growth to occur, demanding for even greater land-use practices to earn more nourishment from land. At some point, their farming systems could have supported a couple billion people. The world population is currently almost at 7.5 billion, but with our technologies, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.S. has estimated that the people born after we reach nine billion could be sustained if necessary expenses in food policies and anti-poverty
The world population of 7.2 billion in mid-2013 is projected to increase by almost one billion people within the next twelve years. It is projected to reach 8.1 billion in 2025, and to further increase to 9.6 billion in 2050 and 10.9 billion by 2100. This assumes a decline of fertility for countries where large families are still prevalent as well as a slight increase of fertility in several countries with fewer than two children per woman on average.
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).
Nisa’s account for understanding the life of the much earlier Paleolithic people doesn’t seem to be very useful. She mostly has a knowledge of how today’s hunter-gatherer societies work, which could be similar to that of the Paleolithic people, but over time societies change. Nisa only acknowledges the past when she is describing how her great-great-grandfather knew about affairs, which may be a part of their life, but not exactly solid evidence. There is evidence in Nisa’s story that proves she has had contact with life outside of her society. Firstly, she describes how people call her a poor person, which wouldn’t make sense if it were the people in her society that were calling her names. Nisa talked about how when her first husband, Tashay,
Consider that Earth’s population is projected to rise to 10 billion by the year 2050. The current
More subtle literary devices, like alliteration, are also used to some extent. There are not as many in the poem; however, they are linked with diction that makes them stand out. After the speaker leaves the Spiritus Mundi, the “darkness drops”(line 18). By stating that darkness drops, the speaker is hinting to the reader that the world is already engulfed in complete darkness and sin. Darkness is compared to an object of great weight because it falls on the world (humans) and they are unable to lift it. The alliteration also goes back to the idea of peace and anti-war sentiment when the speaker states “stony sleep”(line 19) was over twenty centuries. Sleep is typically associated with peace and quiet which is why the speaker uses this diction.
Overpopulation can damage or even destroy the environment. The need for resources will grow with the population, but natural resources will not be produced at a fast enough pace. Man may try to produce the resources they need themselves but will there be enough space? According to Young the average person needs a minimum of 100 square feet to feel comfortable in a living space (“How Much Space Do You Really Need?”). Using the estimated population size of 2050, human living space will take up 43.8 billion square feet. Assuming most of these people live in apartment buildings so there is room for farming. Farms will need to switch out crops every year to slow down the process of soil degradation.
As humans began to develop socially, and increase the contrivances within their arsenal, these changes spurred the expansion of the human race across the globe. While humans long had the technical/physical ability to travel, these factors were necessary to ensure their survival and prosperity in a new environment, especially when opposing groups of Homo sapiens would compete with them later for needed resources. Specifically, the descendants of modern day people needed larger numbers to support themselves indefinitely in a location, and the tools developed in the period to keep those numbers, and then increase them. However, in order to reach this stage, humans needed to cultivate and ameliorate their existing abilities with interaction and technological construction, else they would be unable to travel, work together, or create solutions to problems that
Ever since the beginning of recorded human history food production has always limited how much the human population can grow. The Malthusian Trap is a theory that as improvements are made to food production the total human population will increase proportionally to the increased food production. During the industrial revolution, many industrialized countries were able to break out of the Malthusian Trap and since then human population has grown exponentially. Now some of the major issues the human population is facing is disturbing the natural balance of the environment by having to turn more land into agriculture to feed a growing population. This loss of nature is causing a devastating amount of biodiversity loss throughout the planet. As new technologies emerge to try and solve these issues they must
According to Meder & Windelspecht (2014) the human population was approximately five billion people in the 1650’s, and by the 1850’s is doubled again. Now today we are estimated to have approximately seven billion people
By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth’s population will reside in urban areas. The human population will increase by about 3 billion people by the year 2050. This means that world human population can reach the 10.6 billion people in less than 40 years which is an increase of almost 40% (Demeny and McNicoll, 2006). An estimated 109 hectares of new land, the area of the size of Brazil would be adequate for the purpose, will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today (Monfreda et al, 2008). A growing population is not the only problem humanity has to face. Even today, approximately a billion people are chronically malnourished (Eigenbrod and Gruda, 2015), and, in addition,
Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years, progressing through several eras and phases. However, questions have begun to appear, with questions if the “Earth is Overpopulated?”, if “With the Earth’s Current Population, will it be capable of maintaining life at a sustainable level?” (Heaton), and if the Earth is at risk of running out of resources at the rate we’re consuming them? My answer to all these questions is no, that although the population is currently at 7 billion people, it is not at a point where it could be considered to be overpopulated, and it is not a point where the Earth cannot sustain humans with its resources.
As Paul Erlich puts it, “the balanced planet is limited and limited resources are on a direct collision course with population growth.” (Sabin) Research indicates that the earth could support 50 billion people but they would survive on substance living such as “bread”. But is that living? Resources are limited, especially if there are 50 billion people roaming the earth. All that the average family could live off of and afford would in fact be bread. Mintz’ shows in ‘Sweetness and Power’ how when a thing like sugar is not readily available, it becomes wildly expensive. The same thing would occur once again in the world;
As of 2016, the current global population is 7.3 billion people. At the current rate of growth, the global population is anticipated to be approximately 9.7 billion people by 2050. In addition, this population is anticipated to eat more of a middle class diet. Which means more meat, grains, and protein in a person’s daily diet.
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
There are more than seven billion people on Earth now, and about one in eight of us don’t have enough food to eat. So, with a projected nine billion people by the year 2050, how many people can the Earth support while maintaining a healthy population? Population changes are due to the relationship between births and deaths. If the number of births equals the number of deaths then the world’s population will remain the same, but if births exceed deaths, population growth will occur. Early in history, population was slowly growing because of high death rates related to wars, famines, and poor medical services. With advances in