Education for Sustainable Living, Environmental Respect, and Celebrating the Quality of Life.

Human Population Growth

Human population growth is probably the greatest potential environmental threat to the planet today.  When you look at the future growth predictions, and if you consider simply the core needs for human existence: water, food, housing, energy for cooking and warmth, it is very easy to imagine the potential impact of eight billion people on the planet.  We can easily see the impact of 6.45 billion people today.  It is interesting to consider whether humans are the caretakers of the planet or simply another invasive species on the planet.  If everyone on earth lived with the highly impactful lifestyle of the US population, the world would be in serious trouble.  The purpose of this course is to help us become better caretakers and less like an invasive specie.

China with 1.2 billion people is the most populated country in the world.  In the late 70's, they instituted draconian measures such as the "one child per family policy", forced sterilization, and regional population target goals.  These policies had unfortunate, if not disastrous consequences.  (for more information please read Gywnne Dyer's article - Disappearing Babies: http://www.gwynnedyer.net/articles2004.htm).  Most of the world's expected human population growth will be in resource-poor countries that today barely support current population levels.  One needs only to look at the impact of recent flooding in Haiti to see what is the impact of too many people living in a resource-poor condition.  Over-harvesting of timber led to the soil instability which then led to the mudslides and floods which led to the high death toll.

The key is education.  We need to understand the impacts of overpopulation and the connections to species extinction, carbon loading, and resource consumption.  While numbers of offspring a couple chooses to create is an extremely personal decision, ultimately that decision impacts others.  An effort to reach zero population growth would be beneficial to all.

As of November, 2004 current numbers are as follows:

    World: 6.45 billion      US: 294 million

The following sites are used as resource materials for this part of the course.

Resources:     http://www.populationconnection.org/

                    http://www.worldwatch.org/topics/people/population/

Useful Factsheets:                    http://www.populationconnection.org/Reports_Publications/Reports/report209.html

As one might expect, contrary opinions exist in the world.  Some suggest that population is not a concern.  From the perspective of business interests, a greater population means more opportunity to create markets and enhance sales.  Some religious denominations are favorable to population growth as well.  Other scientists and journalists are trying to convince people that the population worries are all a hoax.  However, Mara Nelson of population connection in her article Silence and Myths: a response to the "Birth Dearth" provides an excellent response to these contrary opinions.  See below: http://www.populationconnection.org/Communications/Reporter/winter2004/TOC.htm

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Last Modified: 09/13/2006
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