Population Growth: A Response Essay
According to E.O. Wilson and Lester Brown (Sloan, 2002), the world has reached a population of six billion in 1999, which continued to increase at a rate of 1.4% every year. This meant the addition of about 200,000 people everyday, which is a far cry from the population growth between the years 1800 and 1900 when the population grew only from 1 billion to 1.6 billion.
In response to Moore’s (1999) claims that population growth is not a problem, Wilson and Brown argue that this observation is based on ignorance as Moore was basing his claims only on food supply and the world’s economic status. Wilson and Brown argue that we should consider that the earth has a fixed and limited capacity – something that we fail to take into account. As such, Wilson and Brown assert that given these limitations, our population cannot grow much larger.
The ecological footprint can be used to illustrate this limitation in the earth’s capacity. The ecological footprint refers the amount of resources that a person consumes or needs in order to survive and sustain their lifestyle. To further illustrate, the ecological footprint in the U.S. is about 9.6 hectares, and if every person were to have this much ecological footprint then we would need four more planet Earths in order to survive.
Indeed, the bottleneck that Wilson and Brown refer to is the depletion of the earth’s resources, and unless the high rate of population growth is stopped, then the population’s mass will eventually exceed that of the earth. Aside from food, water and arable land may also be depleted, so to remedy this, it is important for population growth to be reduced until it finally stops.
Aside from the mathematical calculations that the population might eventually outweigh the earth’s mass and that our ecological footprint shows excessive consumption of the earth’s resources, further evidence that the earth’s population is at its tipping point is the lack of education and minimal health services in developing countries where population growth is at the highest. With the resources in these countries becoming more and more insufficient for their people, the tendency would be for these people to migrate to developing countries such that the developing countries would soon become overpopulated, too.
While Moore argues from the economist point of view where he uses economic growth as a basis for his assertions that population growth is not a problem, Wilson and Brown take on the environmentalist point of view in their stance that population growth does pose a big problem. While Moore argues that population growth is not a problem due to the decline in famine, Wilson and Brown assert that although economists have managed to find ways to boost the economy, the earth’s capacity remains finite, and as such Wilson and Brown suggest that we rely not only on annual reports and gross national product s for determining the world’s economic status, but that we should also come up with reports concerning our natural resources and ecology.
As well, Moore claims that population growth is not a problem due to the oversupply of food in the form of grains. However, Wilson and Brown counter this by saying that although there may not be a shortage in grains there will definitely be a shortage in meat products, especially since not all people have grains as their primary food. Moreover, even grains can turn out to be insufficient for the population. For example, despite China being one of the major food producers, its huge population can cause their food consumption to exceed their food production.
In sum, no economic growth or technological development can save the earth. Although both the economy and the environment are important, ways should be identified on how the economy can be advance without the environment being hurt.
References:
Moore, S. (1999). Body count: Population and its enemies—The population-control movement is gaining steam. National Review, 51(20), 45–52.
Sloan, J. D. (2002, February). The Bottleneck: A book excerpt. Retrieved from http://www.mnforsustain.org/wilson_e_o_bottleneck.htm
