course materials

1. Social Impact of Population Growth DQ
Social Impact of Population Growth DQSocial Impact of Population Growth DQThe United
Nations has hired you to be a consultant on global issues. One of the challenges is assessing
the impact of population growth. There is no question that the world population will grow
dramatically in the next decade throughout many countries of the world. The members of
the UN are working to understand the impact that population growth has on society,
specifically in developing countries. Your first project with the UN is to develop a white
paper on three issues related to the population growth faced by one of these countries. Read
the Case Study and provide an assessment based on the questions below.(For a brief list of
resources for this assignment, please see the end of the course guide.)II.OverviewOur
obsession with continual economic growth deters us from studying the role that an
expanding population plays in global warming.[1]ORDER NOW FOR CUSTOMIZED,
PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPERSAbout 3 billion years ago, the Earth suffered through a mass
extinction caused by catastrophic volcanic activity in Siberia and wildfires that covered the
entire planet. Since then, four more extinctions have eradicated up to 80% of all species
each time. The world’s climatologists and scientists overwhelmingly agree that we are now
on the verge of a sixth mass event that, over the next few tens of thousands of years, will
wipe out nearly all living species on Earth — including humankind.This is not the stuff of
science fiction or speculation, but rather the studied view of the people who are most
qualified to make this kind of assessment. As anthropologist Richard Leaky, author of The
Sixth Extinction,[2] wrote in 1995, “Homo sapiens might not only be the agent of the sixth
extinction, but also risks being one of its victims.”This brings us to two issues worthy of
reflection:Does the rate at which people are reproducing need to be controlled to save the
environment?To what extent does human population growth impact global warming… and
what can be done about it?[3]The answer to the first is quite simply “yes,” but the solution
to the second is more problematic. The damage humans are doing to their climate is ruining
the atmosphere surrounding their planet. At the rate this damage is increasing, at some
point in the future there will be no atmosphere left to protect life on Earth from the sun’s
ultraviolet radiation. Compared to other planets in our solar system, Earth has mild
temperatures, thanks largely to the protective gases of its atmosphere.However, since the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution (around 1775), those gases have become stuck in the
atmosphere, causing heat radiating from the sun to reflect back to Earth (rather than exiting
to space). The result is that oceans have become warmer and glaciers are melting, including
parts of Antarctica. If we think of that continent as the stopper in a bottle, its melting away

2. will release all the water it is holding back. This will raise sea levels to uncontrollable levels
and flood coastal regions for miles inland.The two main culprits for this warming trend are
carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane. These gases, called greenhouse gases, are trapped by
the Earth’s atmosphere and, in turn, heat up the entire planet. It is worth noting that
warming oceans are killing off kelp beds throughout the Earth’s oceans and coastlines at a
prodigious rate. Not only do hundreds of millions of people depend on the fish that thrive
on this ecosystem, but kelp is a natural absorbent of CO2. It purifies both the water around
the kelp and the air we breathe. Social Impact of Population Growth DQPopulation growth
that consumes natural resources is partially to blame for the release of greenhouse gases, as
are deforestation, soil erosion, and farming (overturned dirt releases CO2). The real issue,
however, is the burning of fossil fuels (hydrocarbons) such as coal oil and natural gas, which
have been produced by the organic remains of prehistoric organisms. The release of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) such as refrigerants (used to cool the air in air conditioners and
refrigerators), propellants in aerosol sprays, and solvents also contribute heavily to the
depletion of the ozone layer in the Earth’s stratosphere. The stratosphere is responsible for
filtering out much of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, preventing humans from burning to
death.Continuing to release these gases and CFCs into the atmosphere at these rates will
have catastrophic effects on the Earth’s ecosystems and its level of biodiversity.
Temperatures will warm by about two degrees Fahrenheit, changing weather patterns for
the worse across the globe. In December 2017, the World Bank stated, “Climate change is an
acute threat to global development and efforts to end poverty. Without urgent action,
climate impacts could push an additional 100 million people into poverty by 2030.”[4]