Human Population And Its Impact On The Environment

All populations of species are limited to a specific number, called its carrying capacity, which refers to the ability of an ecosystem to support their needs. Once a population grows to the point where it extends past the limit, the environment no longer has the capacity to support them and individuals must die to stabilize the population. Humans are no exception to this rule, as their populations are constrained by such density dependent factors as the availability of food, land, and other resources. Growth in the human population in particular, profoundly worsens the effect on the environment as well, based on the IPAT equation which states that population directly contributes to environmental impact. With the rapid growth that the human population is undergoing, researchers predict that humanity is overshooting their carrying capacity and will soon face a collapse; however, the ability to use technology to efficiently maximize resource allocation while minimizing environmental imp act raises a debate of whether or not humans will be able to continue living as they are now. The article, â€Å"Limits to Growth was Right† by the Guardian evaluates the predictions put forth in the book, Limits to Growth, according to recent studies from the University of Melbourne. Published in 1972, Limits to Growth presents the results of a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in which researchers created a complex mathematical program to estimate the future of population,Show MoreRelatedImpact of the Human Population on Environment and the Biogeochemical Cycles1508 Words   |  6 PagesThe human impact on the environment Mankind has evolved dramatically throughout the past recent decades, but this evolution is often perceived as having been at the expense of the environment. The large size corporations for instance create tons of debris each year, which pollutes the soils and the waters; people use a multitude of transportation means to get to one corner of the world to the other, but this generates the rapid consumption of the fossil fuels. 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