Article by: Julia Layton
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/earth-carrying-capacity.htm
In 1798, an English clergyman named Thomas Malthus made a dire prediction: He said the Earth could not indefinitely support an ever-increasing human population. The planet, he said, would check population growth through famine if humans didn't check themselves.
The idea of Earth's carrying capacity goes something like this: Humans need certain resources to survive at subsistence level -- most commonly air, food, water and usually some kind of shelter. A sustainable habitat is one in which supply of and demand for these resources are balanced. The problem, Malthus suggested, is the difference in growth patterns between the human population and food production. He said that while the human population tends to grow exponentially (by a greater amount each year -- a percentage of the total), the food supply will only grow linearly (by a fixed amount each year -- a number, not a percentage). In this model, humans are bound to outgrow the Earth's resources.
Opinion and Reflection:
I think that the earth's carrying capacity will not be reached for a couple hundred years. The advancements in technology are stabilizing our low supply of resources. If we can get our population growth to a 0 where the birth to death ratio equals out then I think we should be fine. The one major major problem is the low supply of water left. Luckily, with the advancements we can use a process called desalination which takes the salt out of ocean water and becomes usable to us. The earth still has a while until humans reach it's carrying capacity though.
Questions:
- Do you think the earth will reach it's carrying capacity for humans in the next 100 years?
- With all the advancements in technology do you think that we will ever reach this carrying capacity?
- What is earth's carrying capacity and explain why?
Opinion: I think it's interesting to hear what everyone has to say about the earth's carrying capacity; some people say we have already passed it,and others think we haven't reached it yet. Until the human population levels out or drops suddenly, we will never find out what the true carrying capacity is. This ties into life with the movie "WALL-E". This movie shows us what life would be like if we destroyed our earth, which could happen if we over-populate it.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: We will eventually reach our carrying capacity. However, with all of our advancements in technology it may slow the process down because we are able to eliminate some limiting factors that shoud happen naturally.
I think it is facinating that Malthus was able to make that bold of a prediction in his time. He lived in the 1800's when population was not even a problem. I think that he is exactly right whe he says that humans will grow out of the fixed amount of food that we have. I think that having this information could help us as a population to lower birth rates.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3) I believe the carrying capacity for humans is around 10 billion. I believe this because we are already at 7 billion and we are running out of resources. There is also already much poverty around the world and more people will add to this. I think we will overshoot the carrying capacity and a disease will plague us and cause our population to plummet.
Opinion: If our population keeps growing at the rate it is, it will not take long for us to overshoot our carrying capacity. The human race has contributed greatly towards global warming, which will more than likely keep limiting our resources. Also, we really can't stop people from having kids. We can slow it down, but that will take years in itself.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1) The population doubled in less than 75 years, so we could just as easily be at 14 million by 2087. Obvioulsly, with us already running out of resources, we will not make it to 14 billion. Anything could cause our population to plummet at any time.
Opinion
ReplyDeleteOver population has been a major topic that people have been talking about. In my opinion I beleive that overpopulation is a big deal and when we reach the carrying capcity our numbers will decline greater. Like Allison the movie WALL-E would show would it would be like if we used all of our resources and soon it will be filled with trash and useless materials.Having 7 people in my family also impacts overpopulation because the usually family should be about 3 and we use a lot of raw materials/food in the world.
Question 2
With all the advancements in technology I think it will make our carrying capcity be bigger but we sooner or later will reach the carrying capcity. Unless we have technology that can make an unlimited amount of food and water and space for everyone we will have a decline in our population.Technology can give us a run but I don't think we will be that advanced in technology to save our population.
Just to add my personal relation to the topic, I know many of the families in my neighborhood havwe multiple kids. Small scale it doesnt make a difference, but across the world this can really cause the population to soar out of control.
ReplyDelete