Population Growth

Does Earth have enough resources to support its expanding human population? Resources such as water have become scarce in certain parts of the world, due to overconsumption as well as changes in climate. Resources such as fossil fuels pollute the air and water, while activities such as mining and logging damage ecosystems and pollute the land, atmosphere and water sources. 

Carrying capacity is the supportable population for a particular place.  A population is defined as the total number of individuals of a certain species in a given place.  The carrying capacity for an area is based on the resources available. Limiting factors are resources that may not have enough availability to support a population.  For example, not having enough soil and arable land to grow crops, or enough water for irrigating those crops could cause a decrease in the amount of food grown to support the human population of an area. 

Earth is having trouble keeping up with the exploding human population. We are using many resources, and producing lots of waste. 

Last modified: Monday, 12 February 2018, 12:39 PM