...Human Population Is our planet getting too big? “Go Forth and Multiply!” That is what the human population has been doing successfully for thousand and thousand of years, expanding, exploring, migrating, conquering, utilizing, evolving, civilizing, industrializing, and now we are destroying the very land upon which we live. (Anup Shah) There are over six billion humans living on this planet and the numbers will continue to grow due to the birth rates and that humans are living longer so the death rates have declined. With the humans that inhabit our planet we will consume vast quantities of food and water, use a tremendous amount of energy and raw materials, and produce much waste which is harmful to our environment. If this trend continues to keep up at this pace we could end up using up our natural resources not to mention how much waste we will continue to accumulate because we are not recycling how we should. Not only will we end up using any available land it will cause havoc on the wildlife, which inhabits the land. With the humans using up the land forcing the wildlife out of there natural habitant we will start seeing more conflicts with animals and humans. The United Nations, which periodically publishes population projections for the twenty-first century have come up with some startling numbers, they have figured that in the year 2050 the world population will be between 7.9 billion (low estimate) to around 10.9 billion (high estimate), but most likely there will...
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...Human population and growth Introduction Humans like other organisms, must find food, shelter and a place to breed. The first humans were hunter-gatherers who moved from place to place, taking what they needed to satisfy these requirements for survival. After events such as the Ice Age, their method of living became more difficult and humans began to settle in the most suitable areas. Therefore, the amount of humans started to increase creating the need to create census. Census is procedure of systematically counting the members of a given population to control their requirements for living. Even though the human population growth began to be controlled effectively, a lot of environmental factors and situations such as revolutions altered this method. An ecologist can study how any factor affects the size of a human population by taking samples and counting the numbers of organisms in a particular habitat. These factors may be biotic which means living or abiotic which means non-living. Together they affect the rate at which a population grows, and also its final size. All factors that affect the population growth make up the environmental resistance. Some of these factors are: food, predators, temperature, oxygen availability, parasites, light intensity, competitors among others. When a small population begins to grow in a particular environment, the environmental resistance is almost non-existent sometimes the environmental resistance limits population growth...
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...Human Overpopulation Not that long ago, humans were still struggling to survive in a world plagued with diseases, predators, and unknown dangers. The harsh natural environment functioned to keep our population growth in check. However, since the last century, the human population had grown exponentially. Our survival is no longer threatened by other species and harsh environmental conditions. In fact, there is a new concern for the modern society—overpopulation. According to The American Heritage Science Dictionary, overpopulation is “The population of an environment by a particular species in excess of the environment's carrying capacity”. In addition, “the effects of overpopulation can include the depletion of resources, environmental deterioration, and the prevalence of famine and disease”. In the case of human overpopulation, human is the species that is in excess of the Earth’s carrying capacity. If human overpopulation is in fact a legit concern, then the effects mentioned in the definition above would most likely follow in the distant future. In order to prevent the negative consequences of overpopulation, humans must understand what specifically caused the population growth, how does population growth affect the world, what are the implications of overpopulation, and how to mitigate the effects of overpopulation. Although our population is a huge number compared to what it was in the past, we cannot conclude that we are overpopulated based on that comparison. In...
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...Human Population and the Environment SCI/275 12/22/2013 Urbanization is the movement of people from rural areas, such as country sides, to urban areas, such as cities. Cities like Los Angeles did not come to be the way it is simply overnight of course, urbanization is also the transformation of rural areas into urban ones. According to the text book, “When Europeans first settled in North America, the majority of the population consisted of farmers in rural areas. Today, approximately 79 percent of the U.S. population lives in cities” (Berg, Ch. 7.5). One more important distinction between rural and urban areas isn't how many people live there but how people make a living. Most people residing in rural areas have jobs involving harvesting natural resources—such as fishing, logging, and farming. In urban areas, most people have jobs that are sites of industry, economic development, and educational and cultural opportunities. There are factors that produce urbanization. The four major factors that affect population are the death rate of the people versus the birth rate of the people in that urban population and the immigration rate (people coming in), versus the emigration rate (people going out). These factors determine the rate of the population decline or growth. If the birth rate and immigration rate is larger than the death and emigration rate the population will grow exponentially. If the death rate and the emigration rate is larger than the birth and immigration rate...
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...There are four factors that produce a change in urbanization and population. Relocating from a small area, for example the country, to a bigger area such as a city where individuals believe there is more opportunity. Urbanization is not as simple as it seems, there are many challenges that come along with it. There are events that are past and present that either benefit or challenge urbanization. The factors that make a difference in urbanization are the death and birth rate. The two factors that also affect urbanization and population are emigration and immigration. The birth rate makes a difference in population as when a person is born, it contributes to our population and it grows, rather than diminishes. The factor of the birth rate is part of urbanization as individuals as families are attracted to urban cities to provide more of an opportunity for their children. As the book states, “In 2009 the human population as a whole passed 6.8 billion individuals” (Wiley, 2014, Ch. 7). There are plenty of opportunities for them and the offers of education and more employment and career opportunities are endless in urbanized cities. The death rate on the other hand affects the population and decreases it by subtracting when someone passes away. The death rate actually has fallen in the urban area as health services are more available to individuals, but can increase due to disease or the poor not being able to get the medical attention that is required to treat their sicknesses...
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...Running Head: HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH Human Population Growth [Name] [Course] [Professor] Assignment • What is the current estimate of the worldwide human population at this moment? • Describe how this number is changing moment-to-moment, day-to-day, and from one year to the next. • Describe how the human population growth issue has and will impact the ecosystem. • Cite all references in APA format Human Population Growth There are several different estimates of the current world population, which vary slightly based on some assumptions about population estimates in different countries. Most census data for various countries is at least two years old (and may be older). Population models have to account for growth since that data was collected. They also have to adjust for some errors in that data (miscounts, birth and death rates, migration, etc.). Given the variability of the base numbers and the differing estimates of errors, it is not unexpected that there are slightly different numbers. According to the US Census Bureau’s International Data Base (IDB) population clocks, at 17:05 GMT (EST+5) Feb 13, 2009, the world population was World 6,760,296,593. Thirteen minutes later, at 17:18 GMT (EST+5) Feb 13, 2009, the Census Bureau’s world population estimate was 6,760,298,598. That means, that in just 13 minutes, according to the US Census Bureau, about 1,005 more people existed on Planet Earth, or births outnumbered...
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...Human Population Growth The world population growth is defined very simply as the number, or estimated number, of total births in a year, minus the number of total deaths. The difference between these two numbers tells us how many people are being added to the world population each year. To find this number, two types of population growth curves are proposed to explain increases: the exponential growth curve and the logistic growth curve. The exponential growth curve is when the population grows at a constant rate over time. It does not take into account competition, lack of resources, disease, etc. In other words, according to the exponential growth curve, the only thing that controls how fast or slow the population grows is the birth rate. On a more realistic level comes the logistic growth curve. This curve factors in the important reality that states, as the number of individual organisms in the population increases, resources need to increase as well. Also, human population growth HAS changed over time, but these changes were based on numerous factors that included disease, birth rate, economic conditions, etc. However, overall, the human population growth has slowed over the past century and projections indicate that the environment is near its carrying capacity. With this, food production must dramatically increase to keep up with the growing population or our population will be in trouble. While population growth, of any species, may be beneficial to...
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...Human Population Growth SCI/230 October 26, 2014 The world population growth is defined very simply as the number or estimated number of total births in a given period, usually a year, minus the number of total deaths. The difference between these two numbers tells us how many people are being added to the world population each year. The growth rate is this number divided by the total population and multiplied by 100 to get a percentage. While the world saw an increase in the total human population by more than 80 million in 2010, demographers note that the population growth rate has been declining since the early 1960s. It's in this phenomenon of a declining growth rate that we find the key difference between the two curves. Moreover, one of the two fundamental growth curves proposed to explain increases in human population is the exponential growth curve. This curve assumes that the population growth rate remains fairly constant and that the population will continue to double in an increasingly shorter period of time. It's called an exponential growth curve because it plots the output of an exponential equation. In the years since the early 1960s, observed declines in the rate of population growth -- the percentage of the world population added per year -- began to suggest that population growth is not likely to be exponential. In exponential equations, population growth rate does not slow down, it continues at a constant rate. In the logistic growth curve by contrast...
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...Assignment: Human Population Growth There are two types of population growth and they are expressed in the form of models explaining each theory. The exponential population growth model describes population’s expansive capabilities to an unlimited size and scope. Each generation is calculated using specific factors to formulate the amount of population growth by the births and subtracting deaths over a specified period of time. The rate of a population relies on the growth of the population groupings that are calculated. A population’s size can be greatly reduced or increased by environmental factors. For example, if there is a drought or severe cold weather, population increases can be greatly reduced because of the lack of necessary resources such as food and water. The lack of competition for certain food sources, because of reduced populations, can have the reverse effect on other animals and their populations can be increased. Even though exponential growth is possible, it is not sustainable because eventually the populations will consume all resources that are necessary for the continuing of the species. The logistic population growth model describes the reality that natural environments do have limits to their natural resources that benefit population growth. These limits keep species populations in check and allow only a certain amount of individuals to live successfully in any one environment. The growth rate of populations, in the logistic model, decreases as...
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...HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH SCI/230 The human population started off slow until the beginning of the 1900s when the industrialization of the world changed mortality rates. This is evident by the logistic growth curve of the population from year one to the 1800s, when the population reached the 1 billion mark. The population did not grow rapidly at this time and it actually remained flat for almost 1500 years at the beginning. The population then grew rapidly as advancements in medicine and nutrition in both Europe and the United States allowed humans to take control of their population's growth rate. This exponential growth curve showed that the population continued to increase at a steady rate as births rose and mortality rates declined. This exponential increase saw the population explode from 2 billion in 1927 to 3 billion in 1960. After this exponential increase the developed nations of the world developed contraceptives to control birth rates and the population growth declined to almost zero. This has not been the case in developing nations however as death rates have dropped but high birth rates have continued. This increase in population has created a large ecological deficit. In the United States alone the population requires twice the land and resources than what is available. This has caused humans to invade other habitats and force animals to either relocate or become extinct. This is creating the problem as humans face overpopulation and overconsumption...
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...Human Population Demographic transition is defined as changes from high birth rates in a country to low birth rates being stable for the demographics. (Montgomery, K. n.d.). This is the changes in a country society because of the births and deaths in a country. In the texts its say’s that demographic transition is from high fertility and morality to low fertility to morality. (Editorial Board [EB], 2013, p. 191). Demographic transition is known for collecting data from countries about human population and is also known for the categories in 4 stages. (EB, 2013, pg. 192). Stage one deal with pre modern times in demographic transition. This stage change in the 18th century when the balance was broken in Western Europe. In stage one the birth rates and death rates are very high. This cause very slow population growth until the 18th century as stated above. The causes of deaths in stage on were fever, plagues, infections, TB, measles, whooping cough, and dysentery. Along with these problem poor hygiene, and clean during water wasn’t available. Some has called this stage the “Malthusian stalemate” because of its characteristics. (Montgomery, K. n.d.). Stage two; many have seen a rise in Europe population because the death rates have decreased slightly. It is still debatable that the birth rates stayed the same or risen slightly. The decline in death rates was seen in Europe starting in the 18th century in the north and the west. The reason for the lower death...
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...GLOBAL ISSUES – Possible Topics Human Conflicts: Peacekeeping, conflict prevention, terrorism Digital Divide Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Biotechnology Rules Illegal Drugs Trade, Investment, and Competition Rules Intellectual Property Rights International Labor and Migration rules Third World Debt Oil Consumption Biodiversity and Ecosystem Losses (Extinction) Global Warming / Climate Change Genetically Engineered Food Human Population Growth Global Infectious Diseases Women’s Rights Rights of Indigenous People Poverty Famine Energy Consumption Deforestation Human Rights Issues Pollution Drinking Water / Water Deficits Fisheries Depletion Maritime Safety and PollutionSome websites to visit: http://www.globalissues.org/ Global Issues That Affect Everyone http://www.who.int/topics/en/ The World Health Organization list of health topics http://www.un.org/english/ The United Nations website. Also check out the Documents and Maps section at the very top of the page to get some good maps. http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/index.html The National Geographic site for maps and lots of information about regions around the world. Also check out the links for People & Places and News on the left side of the page for more information on various topics. https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html The CIA Factbook. Good detailed information about every country in the world. Select a country or location. http://www...
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...University of Phoenix Material Environmental Science and Human Population Worksheet Using the textbooks, the University Library, or other resources, answer each of the following questions in 100 to 200 words. 1. What would you include in a brief summary on the history of the modern environmental movement, from the 1960s to the present? In a brief summary on the history of the modern environmental movement from the 1960s to the present, its focus was on a few prominent environmental issues and disasters. The environmental movement has evolved significantly in the last five decades. Today, many of the rallying points of the environmental movement have become ingrained into American society. Air and water quality standards are regulated for the public good, endangered and threatened species are protected, and chemicals and products go through a rigorous testing process to determine potential health and environmental threats. Today the environmental movement in America is divided into three levels: local, national, and international 2. Explain the primary concern over exponential population growth. What promotes exponential population growth? What constrains exponential population growth? 3. What is carrying capacity? Compare predictions for human population growth in developed countries versus developing countries. What will occur if carrying capacity is exceeded? ...
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...Human Population and Environmental Problems by PAUL R. EHRLICH, Ph.D.(Kansas) Professor of Biology and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, U.S.A. rather small number that are thought of as 'important' forms of wildlife—will have a dramatic negative feedback effect on the capacity of our planet to support human life. This is because, although politicians and laymen tend to focus attention on air pollution and water pollution as the most serious environmental problems, in fact the most devastating of all is the destruction of the life-support systems of our planet. These are the natural ecosystems that provide us with a series of public-service functions without which we cannot persist indefinitely on this Earth—such functions as maintaining the quality of the atmosphere, controlling roughly 99 % of the potential agricultural pests, recycling of our waste products, and many other services that we cannot perform for ourselves (Ehrlich et al., 1973). The third message which I would like to give you is that the time for research as a major approach to the world's problems is long past. If you are trapped in a forest, downwind from a forest fire, and it is raging towards you at ten or more kilometres per hour, you do not immediately convene a committee to study reforestation—you call for water. In human society, calling for water basically consists of promoting political action...
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...Environmental Science and Human Population Worksheet 1. What would you include in a brief summary on the history of the modern environmental movement, from the 1960s to the present? The modern environment movement began on April 22, 1970 largely due to the release of the book The Silent Spring that is written by an environmentalist name Rachel Carson. Overtime, I think the environment has improved tremendously from where and how it all began. With the help of the National Resources Defense Council, many things started happening for the betterment of the environment. Many Acts and laws were passed such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act. The National Resources Defense Council has created acts and laws that have help to stop the mistreatment of the environment as well as the senseless killings of some of our wildlife that are still effective to this very day. 2. Explain the primary concern over exponential population growth. What promotes exponential population growth? What constrains exponential population growth? The primary concern over exponential growth is, the more people there are and the more resources we use will eventually lead to the Earths downfall thus leaving us with a weak environment. The population on Earth has grown over the past few decades and with that, growth come the more frequent use of unnatural resources. There are more people using and trying to advance technology and while it seems like a...
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