Mason Turner

P7

Core Case Study

1. Summarize the story of how human population growth has surpassed 7 billion and
explain why this is significant to many environmental scientists (Core Case Study).
 The earth’s population has grown exponentially recently. The earth first took ~
200,000 years to get to 2 billion. As the world has now topped 7 billion, it only
took ~ 12 years to reach a 2 billion population growth to reach its current
population.
 Interesting to many scientists because of the fact that the human species cannot
continue to grow at this rate; the world will run out of natural resources, energy,
food, etc.

List three factors that account for the rapid increase in the world’s human population
over the past 200 years.
 The emergence of early and modern agriculture ~ 10,000 years ago
o Could feed more people.
 New technologies allow humans to live in most places
 Our death rates have decreased

Section 6-1
2. What is the key concept for this section?
 The continuing rapid growth of the human population and its impacts on natural
capital raise questions about how long the human population can keep growing.

What is the range of estimates for the size of the human population in 2050?
 7.8 – 10.8 billion; median 9.6 billion

Summarize the three major population growth trends recognized by demographers.

 Population growth has slowed
 Geographically; human population growth is unevenly distributed
 Movement of people from rural to urban areas ~ 50%+ people live in urban areas

About how many people are added to the world’s population each year?
 84 million as of 2012

What are the world’s three most populous countries?

 China, India, United States

List eight major ways in which we have altered natural systems to meet our needs.
 Reduce biodiversity
 Increasing use of net primary productivity
 Increasing genetic resistance in pest species and disease-causing bacteria
 Eliminating many natural predators
 Introducing harmful species into natural communities
  Using some renewable resources faster than they can be replenished
 Disrupting natural chemical cycling and energy flow
 Relying mostly on polluting and climate-changing fossil fuels

Define cultural carrying capacity. Summarize the debate over whether and how long the
human population can keep growing.
 The limit on population growth that would allow most people in an area or the
world to live in reasonable comfort and freedom without impairing the ability of
the planet to sustain future generations.

Section 6-2
3. What are the two key concepts for this section?
 Population size increases through births and immigration, and decreases through
deaths and emigration.
 The average number of children born to the women in a population (total fertility
rate) is the key factor that determines population size.

Define and distinguish between crude birth rate and crude death rate.
 crude birth rate - the number of live births per 1,000 people in a population in a
given year
 crude death rate - the number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population in a
given year

List three variables that affect the growth and decline of human populations.
 Birth
 Death
 Migration

Explain how a given area’s population change is calculated. Define fertility rate, and
distinguish between the replacement-level fertility rate and the total fertility rate (TFR).
 (Births + Immigration) – (Deaths + Emigration)
 Fertility rate - number of children born to an average woman in a population
during her lifetime
 Replacement-level fertility rate - Average number of children a couple must have
to replace themselves. 2.1 in US
 Total fertility rate - estimate of the average number of children that women in a
given population will have during their childbearing years.

How has the global TFR changed since 1955?

 The average TFR dropped in more-developed countries
 Average TFR dropped for less-developed countries
 Has to drop to 2.1 to stop population growth (would take ~ 50 years)

4. Summarize the story of population growth in the United States and explain why it is
high compared to population growth in most other more-developed countries.
 76 in 1900 to 314 million in 2012
  Baby boom during 1946-1964 led to great jump in population

About how much of the annual U.S. population growth is due to immigration?
 30%

List six changes in lifestyles that have taken place in the United States during the 20th
century, leading to a rise in per capita resource use.
 life expectancy
 married women working outside of home
 high school graduates
 homes with flushing toilets
 homes with electricity
 people living in suburbs

What is the end effect of such changes in terms of the U.S. ecological footprint?
 Large increase in size of ecological footprint

5. List nine factors that affect birth rates and fertility rates.
 Children in labor force
 Cost of raising/educating children
 Availability of private and public pension systems
 Infant deaths
 Urbanization
 Education and employment of women
 Average marriage age
 Availability of legal abortions
 birth control availability

Explain why there are more boys than girls in some countries.
 They are preferred because daughters are more likely to leave their parents and
marry

Define life expectancy and infant mortality rate and explain how they affect the
population size of a country.
 Life expectancy – average number of a years a newborn can be expected to live
 Infant mortality rate – number of babies out of 1000 who die before their first
birthday
 A higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rate leads to less death and
therefore more population growth

Why does the United States have a lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality rate
than a number of other more-developed countries?
 Poor health care; drug addiction among women, poor care for women during
pregnancy and for them and children after birth
6. What is migration?
 Migration is the movement of people into (immigration) and out of (emigration)
specific geographic areas.

What are environmental refugees and how quickly are their numbers growing?
 Environmental refugees are people who had to leave their homes due to
water/food shortages, soil erosion, or some other environmental degradation or
depletion. The number of environmental refugees is growing quickly and by
2020, there are projected to be 50 million.

Describe three major factors that demographers have to consider in making population
projections.
 They have to determine the reliability of current population estimates. The
census cannot account for every child born and every death in every second of
time. The population estimates are not accurate.
 Assumptions that demographers make about current trends.
 Population projections are be made by various different organizations

Section 6-3
7. What is the key concept for this section?
 The numbers of males and females in young, middle, and older age groups
determine how fast a population grows or declines

What is the age structure of a population?

 Numbers of males and females and young, middle, and older age groups

Explain how age structure affects population growth and economic growth.
 More younger = rapid growth
 Triangle shaped = expanding slowly
 Tapers off as you get older but fairly even = stable
 More older people = declining

Describe the American baby boom and some of its economic and social effects.
 Boom during 1946-1964 added 79 million people
 36% of all American adults
 Working adults declining
 Political comflicts

What are some problems related to rapid population decline due to an aging
population?
 Threatens economic growth
 Labor shortages
 Less government revenues with fewer workers
 Less entrepreneurship and new business formation
 Less likelihood for new technology development
  Increasing public deficit to fund higher pension and healthcare costs
 Pensions may be cut and retirement age increased

How has the AIDS epidemic affected the age structure of some countries, especially in
Africa?
 Can remove large amount of young adults; leaves orphans often
 drop in life expectancy
 loss of young workers
 few workers/taxpayers
 with AIDS there are less children and less people above 40

Section 6-4
8. What is the key concept for this section?
 We can slow human population growth by reducing poverty, elevating the status
of women, and encouraging family planning.

What is the demographic transition and what are its four stages?
 Theory that as countries become industrialized, have declines in death rates
followed by declines in birth rates.

What factors could hinder some less-developed countries from making this transition?
 Rapid population growth, poverty, resource depletion, environmental
degradation, less economic assistance,

9. Explain how the reduction of poverty and empowerment of women can help countries
to slow their population growth.
 Educated women have few children if they are educated, working, and can
control their fertility

What is family planning and how can it help to stabilize populations?

 Providing information, clinical services, and contraceptives to help people choose
the number and spacing of children they want to have.

Describe India’s efforts to control its population growth.

 National family planning program 1952
 Promoted smaller family size
 Not effective

Describe China’s population control program and compare it with that of India.
 Extremely strict and intrusive
 One child policy
 Provides contraceptives; benefits couples with only one child
 China’s population is slowing in increase and is expected to begin to decline
10. What are this chapter’s three big ideas?
 The human population is growing rapidly and may soon bump up against
environmental limits.
 Even if population growth is not a problem, the increasing use of resources per
person is expanding the overall human ecological footprint and putting a strain
on the earth’s resources.
 We can slow human population growth by reducing poverty, elevating the status
of women, and encouraging family planning.

Summarize the story of human population growth and explain how the three scientific
principles of sustainability (see Figure 1-2) can guide us in dealing with the problems
that stem from population growth and decline.
 Human population growth is increasing exponentially
 Using solar energy we can decrease emissions and pollution
 By reusing and recycling we can cut our waste and reduce our footprint
 A focus on preserving biodiversity could help preserve the life system everyone
and everything depends on.