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Human Population Growth
Read, Dwight ANTHRO (Read@ANTHRO.SSCNET.UCLA.EDU)
Mon, 2 Jan 1995 15:31:00 PST
(My apologies for joining in late on a discussion that may have already run
its course.)
Graber writes:
"I refuse to think of humanity as a cancer on the
planet. Fewer people would not necessarily be better; more people will not
necessarily be worse."
IF there were world wide, equitable distribution of resources; IF growth
rates were uniform throughout the world; IF growth rates were decreasing to a
replacement level, THEN the optimism expressed by Bob Graber would be
warranted. The net, world wide growth rate is an average of countries with
low and declining growth rates and countries with high growth rates. A
growth rate on the order of 2.8% , which is not execssively large for a
number of 3rd world countries, leads to a doubling of population in about 25
years. How many 3rd world countries can achieve, let alone maintain, an
expanding economoy that matches its growth rate? I recall, for example,
projections for Africa that predict ENORMOUS shortfalls in food production
over the next 25 years. Will the rest fo the world in fact provide the food
that is needed on a sustained basis and not just as a response to a crisis?
On the answer to that question hinges what it means to the persons in
countries with high growth rates whether "more people will not necessarily be
worse."
D. Read
READ@ANTHRO.SSCNET.UCLA.EDU
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