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Topic 1. Human Population& Environment

The global human population has exceeded 6.7 billion, driven by historical agricultural and industrial revolutions, with significant environmental impacts including mass extinctions and climate change. Population growth has accelerated dramatically, with projections suggesting stabilization between 8 to 13 billion in the next century. Addressing population issues requires a focus on social justice and resource distribution rather than solely on limiting growth.

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1 views

Topic 1. Human Population& Environment

The global human population has exceeded 6.7 billion, driven by historical agricultural and industrial revolutions, with significant environmental impacts including mass extinctions and climate change. Population growth has accelerated dramatically, with projections suggesting stabilization between 8 to 13 billion in the next century. Addressing population issues requires a focus on social justice and resource distribution rather than solely on limiting growth.

Uploaded by

primeclass3456
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Human Population

and
Environment
Global human population growth

• Our population has


skyrocketed to over
6 billion.

• The agricultural and


industrial revolutions
drove population
growth.
Global human population growth
• More than 6.7 billion humans
• Why so many humans?
Humans(Homo sapiens) have walked the
earth for ~60,000 years
Population remained constant for the
majority of this time.
 Human were hunters & gathers during most
of this time period.

Agricultural Revolution – ~10,000-12,000 years ago


Industrial Revolution – ~275 years ago
Information/Globalization Revolution – ~50 years ago
• Human activities cause major changes to
earth’s systems.

Mass extinctions (0.1-1% per year) – forests, grasslands,
wetlands, coral reefs, and topsoil vanish or degrade.
- Human ecological footprint spreads exponentially across the globe.

Climate change is also due to exponential growth of
human activities
- Can negatively effect:

Water supply

Agriculture

Biodiversity

Economies
POPULATION GROWTH
• Until the Middle Ages, human populations
were held in check by diseases, famines and
wars, and thus grew very slowly.
 It took all of human history to reach 1 billion.

 150 years to reach 3 billion

 12 years to go from 5 to 6 billion (1999)

- Population 3x during 20th c.


Human Population History
• Environment – sum of all living and nonliving
things that affect organisms.
 Living things can also influence the environment.
- Exponential increase in human population is accompanied by an
exponential increase in consumption  degradation/depletion of
air, water, soil, and biodiversity.
- Continuation of this trend can threaten long-term sustainability of
our societies.
• Economic Growth and Economic Development
 Economic growth – increase in goods and services.
- Requires more producers and consumers (i.e., population growth);
- and/or, more production and consumption per person.
 Gross domestic product (GDP) – annual market value of all goods
and services produced by all firms and organizations, foreign and
domestic, operating w/in a country.
- Growth, measured by percent change in GDP.
 per capita GDP – GDP divided by the total population at midyear.
- Six largest economies in 2006 – US, Japan, Germany, UK, France, and
China.
Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)

Population growth will lead


to starvation, war, disease.

Death rates check


population unless birth
rates are lowered.

In our day, Paul Ehrlich


(The Population Bomb,
1968) is called
“neo-Malthusian.”
Malthus Theory of “Overpopulation”
The “ecological footprint”
• The environmental impact of a
person or population
 Amount of biologically
productive land + water
 For resources and to
dispose/recycle waste
• Overshoot: humans have
surpassed the Earth’s capacity
to support us

We are using 30% more of the planet’s


resources than is available on a sustainable
basis!
Sustainability
• A guiding principle of environmental
science
• Living within our planet’s means
 The Earth can sustain humans AND

other organisms for the future


 Leaving our descendents with a rich, full

world
 Developing solutions that work in the

long term
 Requires keeping fully functioning

ecological systems
Sustainability

• We are increasing our burden on the


planet each year.
 Population growth, affluence,

consumption
• Natural capital: the accumulated wealth of
Earth
 We are withdrawing our planet’s natural

capital 30% faster than it is being


produced
Ecological
footprints are
not all equal
SOLAR EARTH
CAPITAL Goods and services

Heat
Human Capital Human
Depletion of
Economic nonrenewable
resources
and Degradation of
Natural Capital Cultural
renewable resources

Systems Pollution and waste


Social Justice Perspective
• Population growth is a symptom rather than
a root cause of poverty and other social
problems.
 Real causes of these problems are

exploitation and oppression.


- The way to slow population growth and

alleviate many social problems is


through social justice.
Population Perspectives Today
• Neo-Malthusians - Believe we are
approaching, or have already surpassed, the
Earth’s carrying capacity.
 We should make over-population issues

our first priority.


• Social Justice - Believe eliminating
oppression and poverty through social justice
is the only solution to the population problem.
 Wealth and resource distribution must be

addressed.
Can More People be Beneficial ?
• More people mean larger markets, more
workers, and increased efficiency due to
mass productions.
• Greater numbers also provide more
intelligence and enterprise to overcome
problems.
 Human ingenuity and intelligence.
Population Density (persons / square km)
Two Demographic Worlds
• Periphery is poor, young, and rapidly
growing.
- Contain 80% of world population, and

will account for 90% of projected growth.

• Core is wealthy, old, and mostly shrinking.


- Average age is about 40.

- Populations expected to decline.


Estimated Human Population Growth
Population growth
in Periphery:

Cause or symptom
of poverty and
environmental
degradation?
Ehrlich Theory of “Population Bomb”

• Population growth would deplete resources


 Can be true on local/national level

• Treats population as cause


Core responsibility for Periphery growth

• Core consumes far more resources

• Demands cheap, unskilled young labor

• Population growth as a symptom of poverty


Why parents in Periphery have kids

Better chance for one kid to survive


Bring in the crops and income

Help parents in old age

Women often lack power to not have kids


Fertility declines, real and projected
(2.1 = no population growth)

Developing
7
Children per Woman

6 Developed

5
Africa
4

3 Asia

2
South and
Central
1
America
1950 1965 1980 1995 2010 2025 2040
Fertility and Birth Rates
• Crude Birth Rate - Number of births in a year
per thousand. (Not adjusted for population
characteristics)
• Total Fertility Rate - Number of children born
to an average woman in a population during
her life.
• Zero Population Growth - Occurs when births
plus immigration in a population just equal
deaths plus emigration.
Mortality and Death Rates
• Crude Death Rate - Number of deaths per
thousand persons in a given year.
 Poor countries average about 20 while

wealthier countries average about 10.


- Some rapidly growing countries have

very low crude death rates compared to


slower growing countries, due to a
higher proportion of young people in the
population.
Population Growth Rates
• Natural Increase
 (Crude Birth Rate - Crude Death Rate)

• Total Growth Rate


 Includes immigration and emigration
Life Span and Life Expectancy
• Life Expectancy - Average age a newborn
can expect to attain in any given society.
 Declining mortality is the primary cause of

most population growth in last 300 years.

 Worldwide, average has risen from 40 to


65.5 over the past century.
- Greatest progress has been in

developing countries.
FUTURE OF HUMAN POPULATIONS
• Most demographers believe the world
population will stabilize sometime during the
next century.
 Projections of maximum population size:

- Low 8 billion
- Medium 9.3 billion
- High 13 billion

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