Module 2: Population and Resource Consumption

Topic Aims

In this module, we will discuss the:

• factors affecting human population size
• scenarios for the world’s population during this century
• conflicting opinions regarding the consequences of increasing human populations
• scenarios for Australia’s population
• patterns of consumption around the world and within Australia
• the role of technology.

Introduction

In the last 60 seconds, the human population on Earth increased by ~165 people.

That’s equivalent to 1.7 million people per week. Many people contend that population size and growth are the root of all environmental problems, causing environmental damage and depleting resources. However, as we’ll discuss later, this is a matter of intense debate. Three major views have been proposed (Aplin et al. 1999).

1. The neo-Malthusian approach. Population growth is a major threat to the world’s environment, economy, and social and political stability (Aplin et al. 1999).
2. The anti-neo-Malthusian approach. Population growth is not a major threat to the world’s environment, economy, and social and political stability. Economic growth encourages economic prosperity and technological innovation (Aplin et al. 1999).
3. The neutral socio-political stance. The world’s environmental problems have political, social and economic causes besides population growth (Aplin et al. 1999).

The neo-Malthusian view

Probably the most high profile exponent of the neo-Malthusian approach in recent times is Professor Paul Ehlrich from Stanford University in the USA. He has argued that continued population growth will exhaust resource supplies due to resource use. With his colleagues, he proposed the following model to explain how three factors - population, affluence and technology - affect the environmental impact of population.

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The anti-neo-Malthusian view

There are many critics of the neo-Malthusian approach. A current and high profile critic is Bjorn Lomborg, who published the book The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World in 2001 (available in CDU library). You can visit his web site and read an extract of the book at , or read a brief statement of the book's intentions

You can see how much anger his views have raised amongst some environmentalists by going to the anti-Lomborg site at http://www.mylinkspage.com/lomborg.html

Surfing the (world wide web) WWW locates many other sites critical of the neo-Malthusian approach.

Throughout this unit, we will try to consider the various approaches in the debate over the causes of environmental damage.

In this module, we start by considering the human population.

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