Population as the main obstacle in the continuation of the humankind

The purpose of this entry is to briefly analyze the effects and the causes of the population in the environment of our planet.

Our population now ( 2011) is almost 7 billion, a huge number that reflects to the continuous expansion of our spice. Someone will say “so what”?, but here comes the numbers that soon or late all of should take under consideration.

This extremely fast growth makes the scientists to see that soon or late the Earth will reach its carrying capacity. This enormous exponential growth made the scientific community the red alert.  By 2050 the population growth will skyrocket according to the graph bellow.

First of all the numerous technological innovations make the human to spread in each corner of the Earth in an amazing rate. These technological innovations can be translated into the increase of the food production, more consuming goods and of course better health system

Cassandras vs  Cornucopians :  Two theories in contrast

Cassandras gave us a prediction that soon or late our Earth will not be able to sustain such enormous population growth. Their main argument is that Earth can support only a certain level of people because the resources are not many. Famine and source depletion is among their predictions for the future.

Cornucopians argue that the technological innovation will overcome the difficulties that will occur in the future for the human kind. They also say that our resources are endless and as more humans will be on Earth they will be able to use more resources.

 

In my opinion the things are not so devastating. The Doomsday will never happen. What I’m trying to say is that technology is able to find solutions beyond the imagination. This idea to reduce our population makes me sick.

For example we see only the image of a problem, and we don’t see who the “painter” is, in other words who put us in the certain way of living.  They make most of the people to blame their selves for something that others instrumented with such an excellent way.  For example, our cars pollute. No one gave us the opportunity to choose another fuel that doesn’t pollute and as “BAD humans” we choose the most pollutant. I believe that there are other fuels that are extremely environmental. We don’t use then because some huge economic interests doesn’t want to. Up to this point I want to say that we don’t see the real problem we only see its easy to see.

                                                          Paul Ehrlich

                                                      

Paul Ehrlich is an American biologist born in 1932. His career as professor in the Stanford University makes him unique in his sector. He is also an entomologist which his studies specialized in butterflies. However his book  Population Bomb in 1968 make him famous.

According to Ehrlich the rapid population growth will cause global famine and increase also of the global death rate.

Population has been growing faster than Ehrlich predicted Moreover, some of his predictions doesn’t came true. 

 

He created the IPAT Model

 

I= P x A x T   

 

The equation analyzes the numerous factors  that contribute to the human impact on the environment.

 

— Population =P

— Affluence    = A

— Technology = T

 

The  IPAT model in different countries

 

In each country of the world the population growth rate is different and the countries according to the IPAT model that are leaders isChinaandUSA.

China

In China Population , affluence and technology  the three factors of the IPAT model have a huge impact on the environment.  Chinais the country with the largest population in the planet and the problems that is facing is the huge       increase of population and this causes other problems such as place for people and food. The one child policy in 1978 hasn’t solve the problem of the huge population in the environment.  The population of Chinanow is 1,333,464,000

USA

InUSAthe factors that contribute to the impact in the environment are the technology and affluence. According to many researches and scientists the consumption rate of  theUnited States of Americais so huge that only 2.3 billion people will be able to exist in the planet. The Population of USA now is 307,016,550

Greece

InGreece  the birth rate should increase  because the population and actually the economic system of the country will face in the future gigantic problems. The population of Greecenow is 10.760.136

Hans Rosling

 Hans Rosling is a Swedish medical doctor, public speaker and a statistician. He is also,  creator of the Trendalyzer software system, which actually converts statistics into moving interactive  circle figures.  He gave many speeches in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

Something that impressed me in his amazing speech was first of all his extremely amazing humour and of course his point of view about economic and population growth. His interactive dataset was amazing with briefly explanations in many parameters which was extremely enlighten.

References :

Us Population  Retrieved May 9,–2011

From  http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

Wikipedia. Hans Rosling . Retreived May 9—2011

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Rosling

Withgott, J. Brennan, S. (2010). Environment.   The Science behind the Stories. 4th Edition, San Fransisco : Pearson EducationCultural Evolution.

Video : Population growth , youtube.

Video : Overpopulation Myth Exposed, youtube.

“Population Bomb” (Dec 3, 2008). Retrieved May 9th,2011from http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/03/ehrlich_qa

An important guide to understand in depth our economic model

The propose of this post is show n depth how GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator), EF (Ecological Footprint) and GDP (Gross Domestic Product) are combined with each other. Also is important for us to see how these factors are changing throughout the years.

   Ecological Footprint is the amount of the productive land and recourses that are needed to sustain a population in the earth’s ecosystem. It also counts many factors such as income, agriculture and of course energy which are extremely vital everyday for the humankind. Gross Domestic Product is the market value of all finished goods and services produced in a country per year. The standard of living in each country is represented by the GDP. Genuine Progress iIndicator is a factor or let’s say better an indicator that is actually used to measure the economic growth of any particular country. GPI in other words measure the country’s growth which can be an increasing in a production of goods, and  also expanding services that have actually resulted to the increasing welfare of the citizens  in a certain country. GPI claim that actually can be more reliable in the measurement of economic progress as it distinguishes between main economic growth and uneconomic growth. GPI summarizes more forms of economic activity than GDP. The basic difference between GPI and GDP is that Genuine Process Indicator looks at economic activity from the perspective of the impact that it has on the individuals and society as a whole, while GDP pays more attention to the economical point of view. Therefore, another difference in these two measures is that under GDP crime and pollution are seen as income in terms of generating crime rates and having pollution as a result of producing more, while on the other hand GPI sees these two as costs. As a result, GPI calculates the environmental costs which actually make the GPI “greener” than the GDP.

Table 1 US GDP vs GPI

Component of GPI	US total in 1950(trillion of dollars)	Per capita in 1950(thousands of dollars)	US total in 2004(trillion of dollars)	Per capita in 2004(thousands of dollars)
GDP	1.153	0.132	7.589	0.254
Benefits	1.041	0.014	4.746	0.0617
Environmental costs	0.407	3.74	3.990	0.0734
Social and economic costs	0.476	0.319	3.926	0.0746
GPI	3.077	0.839	20.251	0.4637

1) In 2004 the GDP was 6,58 times greater than it was in the 1950. The same time GPI increaed by 3,4 times. As a result from this we see that GDP and GPI have icreased both.1)  How many times greater was the GDP in 2004 than in 1950? By how many times did the GDI increase between 1950 and 2004? What does this comparison tell you?

In 2004 the GDP was 6,58 times greater than it was in the 1950. The same time GPI increased by3,4 times. As a result from this we understand that GDP and GPI have increased both.

2)  By how many times, respectively, did benefits, environmental costs, and social and economic costs increase between 1950 and 2004? How are trends in each of these components driving the overall trend between the GPI and the GDP? Which component has gotten worst over the years? How would you account for these trends?

The benefits have been increased 4.599, the environmental costs by 9.803 and the social and economic costs had been increased by 8.247 between 1950 and 2004. So,  from 1950 to 2004 GPI and GDP had been increased. The environmental costs had been increased.

3)  There are many ways to define and measure the various types of benefits and costs that go into the GPI. How do you think a person with a biocentric worldview would measure these differently from a person with an anthropocentric worldview? Whose GPI for the year 2005 would likely be higher?

A biocentric person sees the world and to be more exactly the (bio) “life” as the center of everything  while on the other hand the anthropocentric worldview of a person makes hi to see the humans as the very center of everything. The anthropocentric worldview comes in a big contrast with the biocentric worldview.

4)  Now consider your own life. Very roughly, what would you estimate are the values of the benefits, environmental costs, and social and economic costs you experience? What could you do to help improve these trends in your own personal accounting?

My  life  up to this point made some very bad lets say habits. I’m saying this because my ecological footprint is vary big.  We all have to understand that this way of living will actually make us to regret it in the future.  The only thing I have to do is to try to be more realistic in my opinions I my future life, because these opinions will consequence many life’s n the future.

References :

GPI definicion from: http://www.uvm.edu/giee/Page=genuine/index.html&hl=el&biw=1440&bih=805&source=hp&q=Genuine+progress+indicator&aq=f&aqi

Withgott, J. & Brennan, S. (2011). Environment: The Science behind the Stories. 4th Edition, San Francisco: Pearson Education .

Picture 2, from : http://www.kinima.org/sites/default25:429,r:14,s:25&biw=1440&bih=805

Picture 1 ,from : http://ecology.com media/bff/img/fp-tZ

Test of Knowledge !

By Nikos and Lia

CHAPTER 1

1: What kind of resource is oil?

a) essentially inexhaustible

b) renewable

c) nonrenewable

d) perpetually renewed

2: Try list and order the words to construct the scientific method approach.

a) test

b) results

c) questions

d) predictions

e) observations

f) hypothesis

3: Which are the ways we can test a hypothesis?

a) natural experiments-correlation

b) manipulative experiment- comparisson

c) natural experiments- manipulative experiments

d) peer view-correlation

4: Explain what an “ecological footprint is”.

5: Define the term “environment”.

6: What is the difference between an “environmentalist” and an “environmental scientist”?

7:  The world’s average ecological footprint is 2.7 ha, can you compair it with America’s (9.4 ha) using some examples?

8: The  worlds ecological footprint is 2.7 ha and United State’s is 9.4 ha, can you compare the two using examples?

9: Can an observation reject its hypothesis after checking its results?

a) True

b) False

10: Is the climate a regulation ecosystem service?

a) True

b) False

CHAPTER 2

1: List the three types of polymers, essential to life.

2: Which are the three types of energy?

3: Define what “Biosphere” is.

4: Which elements are found in 96% of our body?

a) iron, sulfur, hydrogen, oxygen

b) carbon, iron, sulfur, chlorine

c) hydrogen,carbon,nitrogen,oxygen

d) oxygen, chlorine, potassium, calcium

5: How much does water is placed in earth’s surface?

a) 71%

b) 97%

c) 82%

d) 67%

6: The PH scale ranges from 0-7. Match the names to the PH

a) neutral                             1)less than7

b) acidic                                2)greater that 7

c) basic                                    3)7

7:  Do plants feet in the “Autotrauphts” ?

a) True

b) False

8: Does an imprint of a dead organism called a “fossil”?

a) True

b) False

9: Is lemon juice a Basic?

a) True

b) False

10: Order the words for constructing the “hierarchy of matter within organisms”.

a) organ system

b) tissue

c) organism

d) organ

e) mscromolecule

f) organelle

g) molecule

h) atom

i) cell

CHAPTER 3

1:      How evolution Influences biodiversity? Briefly explain

2:    What are the causes of biological evolution?

a)…..

b)…..

3:  Artificial selection is the process of selection conducted under human direction

a) True

b) False

4:    Does evaluation alters the genetic make up of a pollution ?

a.       No

b.      Yes

5:  Adoption is

a : a train that promotes reproductive success

b : organisms that adoption their environment

6:      Directional selection:

a) produces intermediate traits, preserving the status quo

b) drives a feature in one direction

7)     Sympatric speciation has to do with plants? True or False?

8)  list 4 types of Biological Diversity

9) What are the causes that makes the population of a spice to decline? (4 causes)

10) Is Niche  an organism’s use of resources and its interactions with other individuals?

CHAPTER  4

1: Define the term “biom”.

2: Explain what a “community” is .

3: Can you detect the community boundaries?

4: How can biodiversity be defined?

5: Is competition a kind of species interaction:

a) True

b) False

6: Can competition occurs when resources are limited?

a) true

b) false

7: Can you detect the difference between resistance and rellisance?

8: Which are two mutualistic behaviors?

a) symbiosis-pollination

b) predations – competition

c) parasitism – herbory

d) herbory – competition

Chapter 6

1) The triple bottom line is it able to sustainable solutions that meet the social ,environment and economic sector?

2) Our decisions and actions has t do with the combination of 4 sectors which are:

…

….

…..

…..

3) List 4 factors that shape world views .

4) Ethics  is the study of good and bad, right and wrong ..true or False

5) Ethical standards – criteria that help differentiate… From ….

6) Environmental ethics is application of ethical standards between human only

a)True

b) False

7) Explain what is environmental ethics

What are the three perspectives in Western ethics? Explain briefly

9) Mach the terms correctly :

a) male-dominated societies have degraded women and the environment through fear and hate

b)humans are inseparable from nature

c)the fair and equitable treatment of all people regarding environmental issues

10)    Is it true that in the cost benefit analysis not all costs and benefits can be identified?

 

Knowledge can save our planet

 

Our society is leading us to the disaster. Over consumption is destroying our ecosystem.  A prolonged pattern of over consumption leads to inevitable environmental hazard and the eventual loss of resource bases. Generally the discussion of over consumption parallels that of overpopulation, that as more as the people, they consume more raw materials to sustain their lives

So, the resources consumption can be measured through the concept which is called ecological footprint. The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth’s ecosystems.  In other words, It compares human demand with planet earth’s ecological capacity to regenerate. It shows us the image of the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the resources that the human population consumes and to absorb the harmless of the corresponding waste.  For example, It is possible to estimate how much of the earth or how many planet earths it would take to support humanity if everybody lived as a given lifestyle.

In ecology, overshoot occurs when a population exceeds the long term carrying capacity of its environment and the effects of this high limit carrying capacity would be devastating.

So, lets see another term which is very important and its combined unique with the previous terms. Carring capacity refers to the number of individuals who can be supported in a given area within natural resource limits, and without degrading the natural social, cultural and economic environment for the present and future generations. The carrying capacity is changed for the worse by pressures which accompany a population increase. As the environment is degraded, carrying capacity actually shrinks, leaving the environment no longer able to support even the number of people who could formerly have lived in the area on a sustainable basis. It is almost impossible for a population to live beyond the environment’s carrying capacity for very long.

Country	EF (hectares per person)	Proportion relative to world average	Proportion relative to world area available	Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita
Colombia	1.3	0,58	0.73 (1.3/1.78)	6370
Sweden	7	3,13	3,93	26050
Banglades	0.6	0,26	0,33	1700
United Arab Emirates	9.9	4,43	5,56
Thailand	1.4	0,62	0,78	7010
Mexico	2.5	1,12	1,40	8970
Australia	7.7	3,45	4,32	28260
World Average	2.23	1.0 (2.23/2.23)	1.25 (2.23/1.78)
Greece	5,4	2,42	3,03	18720
Kazakhstan	2,8	1,25	1,57	5870
Italy	3,8	1,7	2,13	26430
Egypt	1,5	0,67	0,84	3810
Argentina	2,6	1,16	1,46	10880
Nikos footprint	2,92	1,3	1,6404

 

Bangladesh as a country has very high poverty rates and in contrast is also among the most densely populated countries in the world.It is very controversial that this country has the smallest ecological footprint in the world. The people living in Bangladesh use very little natural resources such as gasoline, electricity and few others. Moreover, the population of this country can sustain half of the population of the United States. Bangladesh is actually quite opposite than the U.S. because it is generally less developed and its ecological footprint has very small impact on the world’s ecological foot print.

Australia has the third place for the biggest ecological footprint The extremely large population that Australia has and  actually the vast amount of land, and water that  many people extract from the nature, lead to this huge ecological footprint. However Australia is considered as one of the most developed countries where its population consumes gigantic amounts of resources such as, water and natural resources.  Moreover Australia has extremely strong economy, with high GDP rate and very law rate of unemployment. The extremely high extracts of natural resources are actually leading to bigger ecological footprint.

United Arab Emirates have the highest ecological footprint in the entire world.  This federation of seven states with the gigantic oil reserves are actually the world’s sixth largest oil production state and it represents one of the most developed economies in the world with very high GDP. It is important to say that Emirates have a global ecological footprint deficit because is a country with the highest number of ecological footprint among other countries in all over the world

In my life I didn’t knew what ecological footprint was about. When I took the quiz to find out what my own ecological footprint was I shocked. My picture of three earths makes me feel uncomfortable. I was viewing myself as a person who tries to recycle, and to identify the wastes in order to place them in the proper bin. I guess this is not enough. I think that all of us need to do more in order to save our planet, because we don’t have two, three or more Earths. The EF of Greece per person which is 5.4 is extremely huge compared to Bangladesh which is 0.6. According to the Columbian footprint mine is extremely bigger, but if I compare it with Australia for example, my EF is smaller. The Ecological footprint can be different depending on where you live and the resources you can consume. Each one of us has to observe the consequences which are everywhere. Each one of us including me has to change habits.

 

Environmental regional problems

Thessaloniki is the place where i grew up and live. I wouldn’t say that is a unique place with extremely unique landscape. Of course is a place that combines the sea with the mountain and creates a remarkable phenomenon. Throughout history Thermaikos gulf with the port, was and still is extremely vital for the survival of the local economy and the economy as a whole. In the latest years the pollution of the sea is something unbelievable and the main factors that cause this pollution is the wastes of the city , the wastes of the port and the wastes of the tanneries and also the construction progress.

In the graph  bellow according to the science and technology facilities council, I’m going to show you how this pollution is taking place in the Thermaikos gulf.

For many generations the tanneries was a sector that gave economic breath to the local economy, but the consequences of this “breath’ were devastating

Another aspect is also the construction progress. According  also to R. Johnstone and D. R. Emerson “the environmental audit of a major construction project would need to address both the short-term and long-term impacts and would need to ensure that the anthropogenic stresses caused by the engineering scheme have minimal impact on the environment”.

And as we can see in this case nobody truly cares about environmental justice or nobody is thinking about it. This can only be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision making process. This actually makes us to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.So, we have to do something in order to help the future of our area, of our country, of our planet.

References :  http://www.stfc.ac.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWlhC0U-                                   DHE&feature=related]

Hypothesis

The absence of the trees in large areas shows us that an action has happened from natural or artificial causes. Also the domination of the grass shows that periodic fires took place in the certain area. In my opinion this hypothesis is correct because first of all shows us that serious events took place, and second these events caused the elimination of many trees. The periodic fires are something natural especially in the summer which actually makes the ground to be more nutritious for the plants and the living organisms. We can observe the same after big fires in the forest and also after volcano explosions. Such hypothesis can be tested from historical observations and through scientific methods.

The 3 Key Figures for Ecology

Environmental science is the study of how the natural world works. In other words shows the connection between physical and biological sciences. Environmental science provides a unique approach for the observation of the environmental systems. Also incorporates with the more of the social sciences for the understanding of the human perceptions and policies towards the environment.So the Environmental scientists want to show to us the scientific understanding of the natural world to the protection of nature. These members of the scientific community are concerned with how human needs and the needs of organisms in the natural environment can coexist.

Ecology is a science which looks  on the examination of living organisms in the natural environment. Ecologists look at how organisms interact with the environment and each other, and they study the complex systems which influence life on Earth.  It is synthesis sience  because, to understand the complexity of relations that exist in an ecosystem it takes knowledge from botany, zoology, physiology, genetics, political science, anthropology and other disciplines like the physics, chemistry and geology.

Environmentalism is a movement to preserve the health of Earth and its ecosystems. It is also for many people a political movement that tries to put in balance the human activities and the protection of the natural world. The ecologists throughout the world talk for a planet that is been threaten from the huge consumption and the enormous economic growth. So the environmentalists want to give to the world a stronger voice to fight and to make the governments and the industries to care more about the environment in many levels.

In my opinion I would like to be labelled as an Environmentalist because if each one of us is able to affect some organizations in the local level then can be able to affect some other organizations in international level. I think each one of us is able to provide this voise all we need is the first step and the correct procedure.

 

Hi my name is Nck and I am studying at the American College of Thessaloniki. Its my second year in the College and my major is business. The purpose of my blog is actually to find different opinions in different problems.  Another important issue for my viewers is to see some things with different perspective. A topic that I’m interested and I want to discuss it during the semester is the Global Warming Phenomenon and  I’m telling this because almost every day during this year I hear in the news about the melting of the ice in the polls.

I’m from Thessaloniki and the major physical topography of this area is the sea.

For many years the sea was so polluted and there was a huge problem from the smell. In the recent years the situation has improved. An important aspect of this improvement is that before three years some people had seen dolphins near the harbor. Thessaloniki in some areas is a beautiful city but the ideal place for me to live is in Switzerland.  

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!