1. Population Theories
World Issues 120

2. Divergent ideas about population growth
There are both optimistic and pessimistic views on population growth:
Cornucopian (Optimistic)
Bogue (Optimistic)
Malthus (Pessimistic)
Catton (Pessimistic)

3. Cornucopian
Faith in the human ability to find technological innovations to carry the increased capacity of the human population.

4. Bogue
D.J. Bogue believed that society naturally limits population – the population grows only in response to the Earth’s ability to support a larger population.

5. Malthus
Thomas Malthus believed that the population grows in geometric sequence (1,2,4,8,16…), whereas food only grows arithmetically (1,2,3,4,5…).

6. Phantom carrying capacity – unsustainable use of resources
Catton
William Catton believes that Earth’s carry capacity has exceeded at the expense of environmental damage.
Result?
Phantom carrying capacity – unsustainable use of resources

7. Population Projections
Where do we go from here?
Population Projections
The U.N. has three projections on how quickly the population growth rate declines. The projections are less than a few years ago – this indicates demographic transition occurring faster than anticipated.