Ehrlichs Population Bomb :: essays research papers

Ehrlichs Population Bomb     "People are realizing that we cannot forever continue to multiply andsubdue the earth without losing our standard of life and the natural sweetie thatmust be part of it. these are the years of decision- the decision of men to staythe flood of while." Ehrlich here explains the one of the most pressing problemsfacing man in the 20th century. In Population Bomb, Ehrlich explains thatpollution, shortages, and an overall deterioation of the standard of living isall due to overpopulation.     In chapter one Ehrlich explains the pressing problems facing modern nuance and how these problems are directly or indirectly linked tooverpopulation. Ehrlich explains situation using various examples of how massstarvation is inevitable if population continues to increase the way it iscurrently. In third humans countries their food supplies are becomingincreasingly scarce because of their increasing populations. In these t hird knowledge domain countries the rich-poor gap is increasing creating the potential for turgidparts of the population to starve. Paraphrasing Ehrlichs ideas in chapter canbe explained as there is only so many resources and as population increasesthose resources will soon be depleted. Ehrlich uses historical populationresearch to lead to the conclusion that in 90 years the population could be wellover the earths carrying capacity. In third demesne countries where populationcontrol is rarely used population, pollution, and scarcity are becoming everincreasing problems. Roughly 40% of the population in third world countries arechildren 15 years or older. Ehrlich explains that if population growthcontinues at this rate older generations will find themselves without adequatefood and medicine. Near the break of the chapter Ehrlich explains the cause ofthe massive increase in population growth as he explains that science andmedicine have decreased the death rate exponentially while t he birth rate hasnot decreased. In "Too Little Food" Ehrlich starts off with the assumption thatabout 50% of the multitude in the world are in some degree malnourished. He usesstatistics from "New Republic" and the Population Crisis Committee to put thenumber of deaths to around four million people dying each year of starvationalone, not disease caused by starvation. Ehrlich explains that some season around1958 population growth exceeded the available food supply. When this happenedthe laws of supply and consider took over and caused massive inflation in foodcosts and causes marginal farm land to be put into production. All of thesesigns caused a period of time with severe shortages in food. In 1966 alone theworld population increased by 70 million while food production remained