WORLD POPULATION GROWTH May 1, 2014

Overpopulation  Overpopulation:  A country has so many people that the country cannot feed everyone  “crowded” or “densely populated”  The condition of having a population so dense as to cause environmental deterioration, an impaired quality of life, or a population crash (Merriam-Webster)  Carrying capacity: the maximum population an area can support without permanent damage to that area’s environment

Thomas Malthus  18 th Century British cleric  Believed that drastic consequences would result if population remained unchecked  Noticed that population growth was geometric (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64,…), whereas food production was arithmetic (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,…)  What does that mean for people?

Thomas Malthus  Proposed “preventive” and “positive” checks to control population growth  “preventive” checks include planning for smaller families  “positive” checks include anything that shortens the life of an individual (i.e., extreme poverty, unwholesome occupations, disease, epidemics, war, plagues, and famine)

Paul Ehrlich  20 th Century biologist at Stanford University  Coined the terms population explosion and population bomb  Population explosion: the rapid growth of world’s population. This has been especially significant during the last fifty years  He also wrote a book titled “Population Bomb” exploring these terms

Paul Ehrlich  Believes that there are too many people in this world drawing from resources  We are exhausting non-renewable resources and destroying Earth’s capability to replenish renewable ones  “human activities may so completely destroy the life- support systems of our planet that its carrying capacity for humanity may be reduced to zero”.  Paul Ehrlich on Population Paul Ehrlich on Population

William Catton  Believes that are trust in science and technology is misplaced  Coined the term carrying capacity  Believes that our current population problem stems from the 16 th -17 th Centuries when European explorers settled North and South America  The world and resources thought of as “limitless”

Overpopulation  Overpopulation leads to:  Health and social problems  Environmental problems  Economic problems  Political problems  Who’s fault is it?  EVERYONES!  We all need to play a part in reducing the burden

TRUE OR FALSE? When the population of MDCs rises there is a greater impact on the planet than when the population rises in LDCs or LLDCs.

What Can We Do?  Family planning/birth control  Population policies

Family Planning & Birth Control  Cultural and religious beliefs often encourage large families  Unequal access to birth control  Some countries have poor communication methods for family planning

National Population Policies  Expansive population policies- a government policy that encourages large families in order to increase the population growth rate.  Restrictive population policies- a government policy that encourages small families in order to reduce the population growth rate.

National Population Policies  How does the government do this?  Birth quotas  Marriage policies  Incentives/penalties  Public information and free contraceptives  Public health programs

Population Policies Comparison China Problem: Too many people Goal: Decrease population Process: Punishments if you have more than 1 child (jail time, higher taxes, financial benefits gone). Rewards if you stick to the rules (free schooling, free healthcare, free daycare, guaranteed job, better housing, better job positions Did it work: Yes, birth rates are going down and the economy is growing Impact: More boys than girls (a skewed population) They are both population policies Quebec Problem: Not enough people Goal: Increase population Process: Financial rewards Child 1-$500  adjusted to $500 Child 2-$500  adjusted to $1000 Child 3-$3000  adjusted to $6000 Did it work: No, there was no effect. Program is being replaced. Impact: It just didn’t work.