World Population Socratic seminar

Norms... Don’t raise hands Listen carefully Address one another respectfully Address comments to the group (no side conversations) Use sensitivity to take turns and not interrupt others Feel free to pose questions as well as comments Monitor ‘air time’ Be courageous in presenting your own thoughts and reasoning... But be flexible and willing to change your mind in the face of new and compelling evidence

Question What stage of population growth is the human population currently in? Justify your answer with cited facts.

Question What limiting factors (if any) do you foresee as being a potential future threat to the human population? (Are there any developments to remove or adjust these limiting factors?)

Question What affect does overpopulation have on the planet, the planet’s resources and/or it’s societies?

Question How have humans raised the global carrying capacity? How might we continue to raise the global carrying capacity?

Question What can countries do to lower their birth rates? Make sure to explain why these actions help lower birth rates.

Question Are there any ethical issues associated with the actions designed to lower birth rates?

Question Do these actions t0 lower birth rates have an impact on the global carrying capacity?

Question How would the actions countries can take to lower birth rates affect society?

Norms... Don’t raise hands Listen carefully Address one another respectfully Address comments to the group (no side conversations) Use sensitivity to take turns and not interrupt others Feel free to pose questions as well as comments Monitor ‘air time’ Be courageous in presenting your own thoughts and reasoning... But be flexible and willing to change your mind in the face of new and compelling evidence

Question Who does overpopulation affect the most?

Question Are there any positive things about overpopulation?

Question Are you pessimistic or optimistic about overpopulation?

Questions to Ponder (not assessed) Do you think there is a concrete carrying capacity for humans or will we continue to raise our carrying capacity? Any sort of future technologies you can imagine that might raise our carrying capacity further?

Questions to Ponder (not assessed) How might exploration and settlement of the solar system change our carrying capacity? Do you support or not support governments investing in space exploration?