Term Paper on "Human Population Growth"

Term Paper 5 pages (1806 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Human Population Growth

Despite the modern separation from the means of production most people are at least marginally aware of the fact that everything we need to sustain us is provided by the earth. The earth gives us all the objects we need and many we desire and in turn she is changed. Though these relationships are mediated socially, economically, ecologically and culturally, the full force of the impact of population on the planet cannot be completely reduced or balanced and this is even truer when population growth outstrips available resources. In a bid to reproduce itself and make itself stronger the human race is impeding on the earth and in turn its ability to sustain. Despite social, economic, ecological and cultural mediation of natural as well as human made forces population growth is having a negative impact upon the earth. At the heart of this negative impact, is not only population overgrowth but intensified separation of the individual from the means of production, and the drive of profit over conservation.

In the opening quote of Sparing Nature taken from the seminal, Malthus' an Essay on the Principle of Population one can see that the arguable truth is that the world has been very generous with the biological matter needed to reproduce most of its many species, but very selfish in its dissemination of elements needed for them to sustain and thrive.

Malthus 14-15) Mckee's argument then becomes one that wholeheartedly contends that the human race, as the dominant race in trying to reproduce and basically provide for itself as it grows is in a constant and sometimes unseen struggle with nature to overtake the room it has left for other biological and natural elements to exist. "People need space and resources, as do all living beings. But nature "has been comparatively sparing in the room and the nourishment necessary to rear them" indeed. That humans and other organisms often compete for these commodities."

Mckee 2)

The historical emphasis on human individual independence, a desire to be separated from the mediations of sustainability, mainly economic mediations, such as inability to grow or earn enough to create health in one's children, has driven the human population create additional artificial habitat. In Malthus' 1798 essay one can see the seeds of human discontent of mediation. The economic mediation of poverty, has historically kept much population growth in check, and though it is arguably negative, at least from the human perspective it can also be seen as the first of a long list of symptoms of the creation of populations who cannot sustain themselves with the fruits of the earth. Be it human caused or naturally derived, a whole segment of the population desired a manner in which they would be removed from the confines of the economic mediation of poverty, and many of them and those who came after them advanced to urban life to seek less unpredictable employment and nourishment.

It cannot fail to be remarked by those who live much in the country, that the sons of labourers are very apt to be stunted in their growth, and are a long while arriving at maturity. Boys that you would guess to be fourteen or fifteen, are upon inquiry, frequently found to be eighteen or nineteen. And the lads who drive plough, which must certainly be a healthy exercise, are very rarely seen with any appearance of calves to their legs; a circumstance, which can only be attributed to a want either of proper, or of sufficient nourishment.

Malthus 73)

It is also arguable that the confines of economic mediation are also a human condition but it was exacerbated by the fact that nature could not provide for the demands of those who had more than their share of prosperity, as mediated by culture, in an artificial circumstance, of agriculture. The social and economic "progress" of artificial agriculture is often thought of as the first step toward the human ability of transcending the confines of nature's restrictions, yet it can also be thought of as the first way that human beings began to compete with other species for the means of nourishment and then eventually room. Humans who are separated from the means of production are therefore unaware of their unseen ability to contaminate the planet with invasive species, biologically selected grain being one of the first.

The resurrection of a spiritual body from a natural body, does not appear in itself a more wonderful instance of power, than the germination of a blade of wheat from the grain, or of an oak from an acorn. Could we conceive an intelligent being, so placed, as to be conversant only with inanimate, or full grown objects, and never to have witnessed the process of vegetation or growth; and were ano-

Malthus 244) ther being to shew him two little pieces of matter, a grain of wheat, and an acorn, to desire him to examine them, to analize them if he pleased, and endeavour to find out their properties and essences; and then to tell him, that however trifling these little bits of matter might appear to him, that they possessed such curious powers of selection, combination, arrangement, and almost of creation, that upon being put into the ground, they would chuse, amongst all the dirt and moisture that surrounded them, those parts which best suited their purpose, that they would collect and arrange these parts with wonderful taste, judgment, and execution, and would rise up into beautiful forms, scarcely in any respect analogous to the little bits of matter which were first placed in the earth.

(Malthus 245) point well made by Crosby in his classic Ecological Imperialism (1986), that migration created an opening not only for the plow alone, but also for invasive grasses, grazers (domesticated animals) and dandelions. "The success of portmanteau biota and its dominant member, the European human, was a team effort by organisms that had evolved in conflict and cooperation over a long time" (Crosby 293). Regarding this "success" many would now argue that human migration and habitation of the land has so significantly changed the earth that there is no clear way back, even if she were left to her own devices, and allowed to regenerate herself by natural means. Migration seriously changed the earth, and will continue to do so as more and more land is overtaken to create more artificial shelter and more agricultural endeavors to sustain a growing population of humans.

Mckee, discusses human migration and the need for conservation not simply as a way to maintain the earth for future human sustainability but to maintain the earth so it will continue to provide for other competing species, of which there are many that are viewed ecologically, socially, culturally and economically, by many as barriers to human growth and development, but are in fact a part of a broad system that interlocks to keep the earth healthy. Mckee, discusses conservation of bogs, as an example of the kinds of conservation that is hotly detested but nonetheless essential to continued health of the earth and all the races that live upon her.

Why save the bog ecosystem rather than transport its rare species to a safe haven? One cannot just take a rare species from a bog, plant it somewhere else, and expect it to grow" it is not a simple matter of add water and stir. A bog plant requires its own particular conditions, in this case formed by a longterm process. But this is true of all plants and animals, excepting modern humans. Species require particular habitats with the necessary ingredients to support their ways of life. Some habitats are large, some are small. Homo sapiens found ways to extend their habitats with cultural means, by harnessing energy and creating artificial shelters. But the vast majority of life on earth does not have the luxury of culture. The places that nonhuman species live are in effect dictated by nature" by ecological systems that have evolved over thousands and millions of years. In order to sustain species biodiversity, one must make sure that ecosystem diversity is also preserved.

Mckee 33)

Wetlands conservation is in fact one of the most hotly debated issues, with regard to the further development of the human race, as she struggles to sustain herself, artificially in the natural world, almost completely removed from the means of production. We as humans argue that wetlands, serve no logical purpose for production, despite countless evidence that the purpose of wetlands is to cleans the earth of the toxins, human and naturally borne that attempt to re-circulate every time it rains and runs off down a stream or canal. Humans argue that because the land is not being used to grow food for humans and domesticated animals it serves little purpose for human growth and development. The irony of this is that taking away just a small portion of the habitat, of diverse species and the natural systematic filtration system of the earth… READ MORE

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