Human Population

The human population has grown exponentially since the last Ice Age (110,000 B.C.) with the amount of food and energy growing only linearly, it is a very unstable situation. When the two lines cross, Earth can no longer support the human population. Thus, the human race must take aggressive action to solve this growing problem. It will be a long time before we can find a way to get more food and energy out of the limited resources. If the human population continues to grow, we cannot be sure our future.

In the past 200 years, the human population had never made it over 1 billion. It was growing very slowly and at a small exponential rate. Even the rate and the curve looks like it are growing slowly, but absolute growth rate is far greater. It means after the growth rate passes a certain point, the growth of human population will be sky-high in just a very short time. So in just 100 years, the population has doubled. It went from just below 1 billions to 2 billions in the 20th century. In another 100 years, which is the beginning of 21st century, the human population is about 6.5 billions; tripled the population in the 20th century. Triple the number in just 100 years? Yes, that is how the exponential growth rate works. No wonder the present human population is already starting to be worried by some of the world’s leading scientists. The past human population growth will not happen again, but the valuable in formation it left behind is very useful for us to predict what can or is going to happen in the future.

According to the UN data in 2005 the world population was 6,514,751,000. with the pollution of are and water, along with deforestation and loss of wildlife; the world’s limited resources are being cut down very fast. The new technology being developed in the medical field everyday brings people a better and longer life, that’s a good thing, but there are also problems. Let’s say that the life expectancy in country A ( a third world country) is 40 years old, and another country, country B, ( a developed country) is 70 years old. The families in the two countries have one child every 5 years starting at the age of 20. Country B will have more people than country A, it will have more children and those children lives longer too. Thus country B has more people that country A in the same amount of time. In the present time there are still things to hold back the population such as: diseases, natural disasters, car crashes, and other unstoppable situations.

The future is unlike the past of the present, because it has not happened yet. Nobody knows that is going to happen in the future, but what we do today directly affects the future. Every step we have done wrong can adds up and lead to a disaster. In 70 mores years the human population will be 46 billions, then 24 years after passing the 46 billions line the population will be over 100 billion, in 2150 over 700 billions. The number tells us the scientific prediction of what can happen. In the future nothing can stop the growth of the human population other than the lack of resources like water and food.

The world is still developing, new technology can not cover the need for more resources and energy. In the past there is too much thing to hold back the human population, but in the present days and the future there will be fewer things to stop the human population. Before the resources runs out, the population will continue to grow. We need to control the human population now to be sure a disaster will never happen.

source: www.un.com