Population Growth and Food Supply
BVU Seminar
November 29, 2012
Final Paper
Population Growth and Food Supplies
The world population is currently at 7.6 billion (PBR). In the article, Billions and Billions, in The New Yorker which is discussing the world’s population reaching seven billion, Author Elizabeth Kolbert said “Depending on how you look at it, it has taken humanity a long time to reach this landmark, or practically no time at all (The New Yorker). Keeping that statement in mind let’s take a look back at history.
Homo sapiens have been around a few hundred thousand years. Agriculture was developed about 10,000 years ago. It is estimated that the world population at that time was approximately five million people (The Population Explosion). The world population grew to roughly fifteen million during the First Dynasty in Egypt, hitting two hundred million by the time of Christ, and hitting the first billion around 1800 (The New Yorker). It took the world’s population only another 130 years to double to two billion. Here we are 82 years later with a population that has more than tripled the amount of 1930 (USA).
If you look at population in terms of a lifespan it is quite astounding. The average life expectancy for a female born in the United States today is 80.69 years (World). It is almost unimaginable to think within the lifespan of a female born in the United States today the world’s population could be more than tripled its current amount if we maintain the same rate of growth. I say, “more than triple,” because if the population continued to grow at the current rate, more people would be having more children thus increasing the population even faster.
If you look at a time line of the world’s population growth you already see the exponential growth that has taken place.
This type of growth is called the J-shape curve. If you can recall from science, this is usually associated with a species that has grown exponentially and has reached the carrying capacity of
November 29, 2012
Final Paper
Population Growth and Food Supplies
The world population is currently at 7.6 billion (PBR). In the article, Billions and Billions, in The New Yorker which is discussing the world’s population reaching seven billion, Author Elizabeth Kolbert said “Depending on how you look at it, it has taken humanity a long time to reach this landmark, or practically no time at all (The New Yorker). Keeping that statement in mind let’s take a look back at history.
Homo sapiens have been around a few hundred thousand years. Agriculture was developed about 10,000 years ago. It is estimated that the world population at that time was approximately five million people (The Population Explosion). The world population grew to roughly fifteen million during the First Dynasty in Egypt, hitting two hundred million by the time of Christ, and hitting the first billion around 1800 (The New Yorker). It took the world’s population only another 130 years to double to two billion. Here we are 82 years later with a population that has more than tripled the amount of 1930 (USA).
If you look at population in terms of a lifespan it is quite astounding. The average life expectancy for a female born in the United States today is 80.69 years (World). It is almost unimaginable to think within the lifespan of a female born in the United States today the world’s population could be more than tripled its current amount if we maintain the same rate of growth. I say, “more than triple,” because if the population continued to grow at the current rate, more people would be having more children thus increasing the population even faster.
If you look at a time line of the world’s population growth you already see the exponential growth that has taken place.
This type of growth is called the J-shape curve. If you can recall from science, this is usually associated with a species that has grown exponentially and has reached the carrying capacity of
Cited: Journal of Agrarian Change, Vol. 10 No. 1. Food Riots: Poverty, Power and Protest. Ray Bush. Jan. 2010. Nov. 29, 2012. http://sustainabilityparadox.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2010/09/bush-food-riots.pdf Population Growth over Human History PRB. World Population Data Sheet 2012. Carl Haub. 2012. Nov. 15, 2012. http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2012/world-population-data-sheet/fact-sheets.aspx The Economist The Population Explosion. Why Isn’t Everyone As Scared as We Are? Paul R. Ehrlich & Anne H. Ehrlich. 1990. Nov. 15, 2012. http://www.ditext.com/ehrlich/1.html The New Yorker USA Today. World population to reach 7 billion in 2012. June 19, 2006. Nov . 15, 2012. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-06-19-worldpopulation_N.htm World Facts