Author: Julia Layton
Publisher: HowStuffWorks
Date: Sunday, March 25th 2012
Link: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/earth-carrying-capacity1.htm
Summary: It is estimated that the carrying capacity of Earth ranges anywhere from 2 billion to 40 billion. Right now the population is just around 7 billion, but there are many limiting factors that can alter Earth's population in the future. These factors are balanced with the lifestyle of most humans, which includes producing food and living in high-rise buildings. When trying to determine the carrying capacity of our planet, knowing the amount of resources available is necessary. This is important because people in different parts of the world all consume and use different amounts of resources. If everyone consumed the same amount of resources as the average middle-class American adult, the Earth would only be able to support 2 billion people. Although, if everyone on Earth only consumed exactly what they needed in order to live, the planet could support up to 40 billion people. As you can see, Earth's carrying capacity all depends on the amount of resources of available, compared the amount of resources used.
This picture is a line graph showing the major increase in population that has occurred. It also show's what many people expect to happen in the next 40 years or so.
Opinion: In my opinion, the planet will not be able to support even 20 billion people unless a lot of changes are made. Even though the population is booming, the amount of resources available are decreasing in effect. This will continue to happen, but also get continually worse. Like we learned about in class, our world population is an example of exponential growth.
Questions:
1.) Have we exceeded Earth's carrying capacity? How?
2.) Do you think the world population is too big? Why or why not?
3.) What were the main causes for the huge increase in population?
I enjoyed reading this and learning things that never occurred to me before. I never knew that if we all eat only what we need the earth could hold around 40 billion people. I know that right now there are people who eat excess and there are people that don't eat at all so it is interesting to learn that we could all eat and still have the population grow.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: I do not think the world population is too big. I think the population is alright because it has not yet leveled out it is still growing so that means the maximum population has not been reached.
This article was very interesting! I know there are first world problems which include people who over eat leading to obesity because they have the access to the resources where as the third world problem is that they barely have enough food let alone water to get by. I hadn't realized that if we all eat only what we need, the earth could support so many people! Yet if we all ate the same amount, only two billion could be supported! Very interesting!
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: I believe the population should be worrisome, but has to capability to get bigger if we take care of the earth. If the population continues to grow and many people don't take care of our plant earth, the world will be at a crisis with ‘Global Warming’ and resources.
I liked this article! I liked the idea of only eating the minimal amount needed. If we ate exactly what we need earth could support more life. It goes to show that people are constantly using more than they need if people could simplify what they use we could support more people. I think this is crucial to the carrying capacity of the world. The though that if everyone at like Americans then we would have already exceeded carrying capacity is mind boggling and really makes me think twice. Human population is a problem that need more recognition and I liked the way this article put it.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: I think that the world is growing at a rapid pace and it definitely worrisome. I feel that currently we are not to big as a population; but if we continue to grow then we will be to big before you know it. I defiantly fear what will happen once we reach carrying capacity but honestly we will not know until its either to late or already happening. I believe that as long as we have enough resources to live we are at an okay population level. Once that changes there will be serious problems.
I liked this article because it gives a realistic view on the world's population. They use what we already know about the world's population and limiting factors that are hurting and limiting us right now to determined what could stop our growth in the future. I also liked how they realized how wasteful and greedy the average person is and how if we could limit our consumption to what is necessary they world population would sail.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: The main causes for the increase in population are the development in modern technology. Now the medicine is so advanced that the death rate is much lower than the birth rate. This causes a spike in population because now old people are staying alive and babies are still being born. Also, another reason why population is increasing is because food is so much more accessible to so many more people and many, many, many less people are dying of malnutrition. The main two reasons why our population is growing are better medicine and more food resources.