Human Populations Concerns

Critical Thinking Activity


COMMENTS/DISCUSSION

Who cares about population, anyway? After visiting that Web site, we might wonder just how the rate of population increase differs from that of the past. To find out, let's look at A Brief History of World Population.

There are many who do not worry about world human population increases because they believe technology will be able to expand the global food supply. To see how this is happening, go to Tracking the Trends. If essential resources truly run out, what might happen to civilization as we know it? Click on Easter Island, found in the article Population and the Environment.

Logic tells us that population growth must eventually cause poverty, but could the opposite actually be true? Go to population and poverty, included in Economic and Social Impacts of Population Growth, and decide for yourself.

What about the United States? Do we have a population problem? Read the material and again decide for yourself.

One of the problems in dealing with current worldwide population and environmental concerns is that something unique has happened on earth. Something has occurred that, as far as we know, has never before transpired in the entire history of the planet. To find out what this is, and what it may portend, turn to insights.

Given all this doom and gloom, is there any hope? Do we have any chance of overcoming these troubles? Well, yes, we do, but time is short. Click on Personal and Global Solutions - What You Can Do.

Finally, do take the time to read another article discussing solutions to current population and environmental problems, appropriately titled Robust Paths to Global Stability.

FOR INVESTIGATION: For each inquiry, write your thoughts in a short paragraph for later comparison.

  1. How is technology helping to produce more food? Can we really feed six billion people?

  2. What happened on Easter Island between about 500 AD, and 1500 AD? Do you think this scenario is possible for the world as a whole?

  3. How might poverty actually cause a population increase?

  4. Do you think the United States has a population problem?

  5. Why should we care that frog species are declining on a worldwide basis?

  6. In a short paragraph, state what Robust Paths to Global Stability recommends. Do you think these recommendations will ever be adopted?
URLs

Who Cares About Population Anyway?
As the world grapples with increasing social, environmental and economic problems, the issue of population is rarely considered. Perhaps because any discussion of population must include the controversial issues of sexuality, contraception and abortion, we prefer not to talk about it.

A Brief History of World Population

Tracking the Trends
While the debate continues about how many people the earth can support, several key indicators appear negative. Despite unprecedented growth in global economic and agricultural production...

Population and the Environment
Perhaps the most dramatic and best documented example of overpopulation destroying a local environment, and the culture dependent upon it, is Easter Island. This small island in the South...

Economic and Social Impacts of Population Growth
Population and Poverty....poverty is an integral piece of the population puzzle

Does the US Have a Population Problem?

"INSIGHTS"--A Conscious E-Zine
HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH AND THE ACCELERATING RATE OF SPECIES EXTINCTION

Personal and Global Solutions - What You Can Do

Robust Paths to Global Stability: Tough but Feasible

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