1. PROBLEMS WITH POPULATION Thursday, October 22 nd, 2015

2. WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL WITH A GROWING POPULATION? Lack of food, resources, energy, space, water, and sewage.

3. Poverty and population growth are correlated. Poorer societies have higher growth rates than wealthier societies. - Consistent with demographic transition theory - Higher fertility/growth rates, lower contraceptive use

4. POVERTY RESULTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION - Affluent societies have enormous resource consumption and waste production  People use resources from other areas, as well as their own  Individuals’ ecological footprints are huge - One American has as much environmental impact as 6 Chinese or 12 Indians or 12 Ethiopians. WEALTH ALSO PRODUCES SEVERE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.

5. THE WEALTH GAP AND POPULATION GROWTH CAUSE CONFLICT  The stark contrast between affluent and poor societies causes social and environmental stress  The richest 20% use 85% of the world’s resources  Leaves 14% of the resources for 80% of the world’s people to share  Tensions between “haves” and “have-nots” are increasing

6. Affluence: having a lot of wealth such as money, goods, or property. It is created by economic opportunity. The per capita ecological footprint is a measure of affluence.

7. Ecological Footprints

8. The IPAT Equation To estimate the impact of human lifestyles on Earth we can use the IPAT equation: Impact = Population  Affluence  Technology x (S)

9.  Environmental impact (I) may be expressed in terms of resource depletion or waste accumulation  Population (P) refers to the size of the human population  Affluence (A) refers to the level of consumption by that population  Technology (T) refers to the processes used to obtain resources and transform them into useful goods and wastes.

10. POPULATION GROWTH AFFECTS THE ENVIRONMENT The IPAT model: I = P x A x T x S  Our total impact (I) on the environment results from the interaction of population (P), affluence (A) and technology (T), with an added sensitivity (S) factor  Population = individuals need space and resources  Affluence = greater per capita resource use  Technology = increased exploitation of resources  Sensitivity = how sensitive an area is to human pressure  Further model refinements include education, laws, ethics Humanity uses 1/3 of all the Earth’s net primary production

11. IN SUMMARY The IPAT equation made a contribution to understanding the multiple causes of environmental impact, and it continues to be developed as a method for improving our understanding of these issues. It has not helped in identifying sustainable scale, but it is a useful framework to assist in thinking about ways of reducing environmental impacts by reducing various types of throughput.

12. UN CONFERENCE ON POPULATION & DEVELOPMENT  September 1994  Saw the relationships between population, development and individual well- being.  179 countries adopted a forward-looking, 20-year Programme of Action (PoA) that placed individual dignity and human rights, including the right to plan one’s family, at the very heart of development.  Universal education: Universal primary education in all countries by 2015. Urge countries to provide wider access to women for secondary and higher level education as well as vocational and technical training.  Reduction of infant and child mortality  Reduction of maternal mortality  Access to reproductive and sexual health services including family planning