Total Population
The size of each territory shows the relative proportion of the world's population living there.
Carrying capacity is the ability of an environment to sustain life with food, natural resources and a decent habitat in which to live. Overconsumption and I would also like to add waste is pretty self explanatory. Normally if an environment is inhospitable, such as being too wet or too dry, people cannot or will not live there. The ability to start and maintain agriculture, the availability of other food sources and access to natural resources are all ideal areas to live. With 6.8 billion people living in the habitable areas of the earth, this is a concern.
In 1798 British economist and clergyman Thomas Malthus wrote “An Essay on the Principle of Population.” Essentially what Malthus explains is that at the time, the population seemed to be doubling every 25 years (increasing geometrically) but food supply could not keep up as it increases arithmetically. Using England as his example he determined that a century after writing his essay the population would be 112 million but food sources would only provide for 35 million, leaving 77 million people without food (Chapter 2 pg. 7). Some say that this was Malthus’ way of voicing his thought that the lower class reproduced too much and possibly a scare tactic to prevent premarital sex. Whatever the case, his ideas about population outgrowing its means of subsistence did not go unnoticed by the “Father of modern evolution,” Charles Darwin.
Darwin as well as Alfred Wallace, also a theorist of evolution, read Malthus’ essay and both noticed that lack of food supply coupled with a species struggle for existence, concluded that under these conditions favorable variations would survive and unfavorable variations would be destroyed, resulting in a new species. This may also be the time when survival of the fittest was first considered. Evolution plays a huge part in the study of Biological Anthropology, which is the study of the genetic qualities of humans both modern and prehistoric. It is interesting to note that while Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species” was not published until after Malthus’s death, he probably would not want his name associated with this theory, given that he was a clergyman. Some Anthropologists believe that overpopulation is happening and that survival of the fittest may be true for humans as it is for other species on earth.
Final thoughts…
It is my opinion from a human standpoint that technological advances will ensure we survive as a species, whether here on earth or populating another planet. Mistreatment, abuse, corruption and war are the human elements for population control. Add disease and natural disaster into the equation and I do not believe we are in any real danger of being overpopulated.
http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=2
http://www.worldometers.info/population/
http://overpopulation.org/
http://www.esp.org/books/malthus/population/malthus.pdf
