Impacts of the Human

Population
Farmland and Food Supply
Whether or not the earth can support five billion people, or eight, or
eleven, is uncertain. In part, it depends on the quality of life, the level
of technological development, and other standards that societies wish
to maintain.
Farmland and Food Supply
The total arable land (land suitable for cultivation) in the world
has been estimated at 7.9 billion acres, or about 1.2 acres per
person of the present population.
Farmland and Food Supply
To produce one ton of corn requires about 250,000 gallons of
water; a ton of wheat, 375,000 gallons; a ton of rice, 1,000,000
gallons; a ton of beef, 7,500,000 gallons.
Farmland and Food Supply
The total irrigated acreage in the world has more than doubled in
three decades.
Farmland and Food Supply
GENETIC ENGINEERING
- is now making important
contributions to food production,
as varieties are selectively
developed for high yield, disease
resistance, and other desirable
qualities. These advances have
led some to declare that fears of
global food shortages are no
longer warranted, even if the
population grows by several
billion more.
Farmland and Food Supply
Two concerns remain:
1. Poor nations already struggling to feed their people may be
least able to afford the higher-priced designer seed or
specially developed animal strains to benefit from these
advances.
2. As many small farms using many, genetically diverse strains
of food crops are replaced by vast areas planted with a
single, new, superior variety, there is the potential for
devastating losses if a new pest or disease to which that one
strain is vulnerable enters the picture.
 Population and Nonfood Resources
In contrast to the food that is at least a renewable resource, many
of the resources considered in later chapters— minerals, fuels,
even land itself—are finite.
Population and Nonfood Resources
The earth’s supply of many such materials is severely
limited, especially considering the rates at which these
resources are presently being used. Many could be
effectively exhausted within decades, yet most people in
the world are consuming very little in the way of minerals or
energy.
 Population and Nonfood Resources
Some scholars believe that we are already on the verge of
exceeding the earth’s carrying capacity , its ability to sustain
its population at a basic, healthy, moderately comfortable
standard of living.
Population and Nonfood Resources
It is true that, up to a point, the increased demand for minerals,
fuels, and other materials associated with an increase in
population tends to raise prices and promote exploration for
these materials. However, the quantity of each of these resources
is finite.
Population and Nonfood Resources
Land is clearly a basic resource. Land is also needed
for manufacturing, energy production,
transportation, and a variety of other uses. Large
numbers of people consuming vast quantities of
materials generate vast quantities of wastes.
 Uneven Distribution of People and
Resources
Even if global carrying capacity were ample in
principle, that of an individual region may not be.
None of the resources—livable land, arable land,
energy, minerals, or water—is uniformly distributed
over the earth.
 Disruption of Natural Systems
Natural systems tend toward a balance or equilibrium among
opposing factors or forces. When one factor changes,
compensating changes occur in response
 Disruption of Natural Systems
This is not to say that
permanent changes never
occur in natural systems. The
soil carried downhill by a
landslide certainly does not
begin moving back upslope
after the landslide is over; the
face of the land is irreversibly
changed. Even so, a hillside
forest uprooted and
destroyed by the slide may,
within decades, be replaced
by new growth in the soil
newly deposited at the
Disruption of Natural Systems
Human activities can cause or
accelerate permanent changes in
natural systems. The impact of
humans on the global
environment is broadly
proportional to the size of the
population, as well as to the level
of technological development
achieved. This can be illustrated
especially easily in the context of
pollution.
Disruption of Natural Systems
Likewise, six people carelessly dumping wastes into
the ocean would not appreciably pollute that huge
volume of water. The prospect of 6 billion people
doing the same thing, however, is quite another
matter. And every hour, now, world population
increases by more than 9000 people.
SUMMARY
• The solar system formed over 4½ billion years ago. The earth is
unique among the planets in its chemical composition, abundant
surface water, and oxygen-rich atmosphere. Earth’s surface features
have continued to change throughout the last 4 1 billion years,
through a series of processes that are often cyclical in nature, and
commonly interrelated. The oldest rocks in which remains of simple
organisms are recognized are more than 3 billion years old.
• The earliest plants were responsible for the development of free
oxygen in the atmosphere, which, in turn, made it possible for
oxygen-breathing animals to survive.
SUMMARY
• Human-type remains are unknown in rocks over 3 to 4 million years
of age. In a geologic sense, therefore, human beings are quite a new
addition to the earth’s cast of characters, but they have had a very
large impact.
• Geology, in turn, can have an equally large impact on us.
• The world population, now over 6½ billion, might be over 9 billion
by the year 2050. Even our present population cannot entirely be
supported at the level customary in the more developed countries,
given the limitations of land and resources. Extraterrestrial
resources cannot realistically be expected to contribute
substantially to a solution of this problem.