“Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History”, John Green examines one of the theories about the downfall of humanity, proposed by Thomas Malthus. Malthus wrote an essay on the Principles of Population to explain why at the time, population growth was steadily slow. John Green goes ahead to talk about how Malthus compared the poor to rabbits. Expressing that the same powers that constrained the population of rabbits would do likewise to poor people. Forces such as: predators, weather, epidemics and starvation.
Humans have impacted the global environment significantly. Human populations have rapidly increased for the past few centuries. Imagine a world where sustenance is rare but people are plenty. Imagine the world where everyone's shoulders are touching one another and there is no room to move. “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift is an extremely sarcastic solution to a problem plaguing Ireland in the 1720s overpopulation.
Anthropocentrism is ‘human-centered perspective,’ which means that we have humanitarian obligation to help others who are suffering and as humans, we only are essential for ‘worth’ and ‘values. ' This concept is seen as the Kantian perspective, where it is being claimed that each person is count till an end in him or herself. In anthropocentrism, things that are right until the end and which supports our interests. Animals and Nature, for example, those are useful to us, and they satisfy our needs, and thus we get profited by them in many purposes such as food, clothes, shelter, etc. The result to this is that the plants, animals and the rest of the part of our environment have no inherent value.
The land ethic displays a non-anthropocentric view that is vastly far from the intrinsic value level of nature, away from the simple value that humans deem helpful. In "The Land Ethic," Leopold shifts the human-centered perspective of the world to a biocentric view; this allows there to be an emphasis on all living things. This is further explored in the "Round River" as Leopold states, "the land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it."(Leopold 2020). This new ethical view requires humans to have a more intimate relationship with the environment and promote the responsibility of taking care of the natural world to help the health of humans and nature. Leopold highlights the importance that humans should explore a new ethical stance that points out the interdependence of all species in the
At which point of industrialization did climate change start to occur? Did people back then already know of industrialization’s negative effect on the environment? I am trying to understand from a historical standpoint the history of humanity’s influence on climate
Malthus’s work can be described as a rationalization of social inequality created through the Industrial Revolution and as a justification for nativism. The assumptions of growth of food supply and population from Malthus are used as the explanation for environmental degradation and poverty. His conclusions provide a tool to prevent social and
As I walked into the vicinity of the woods, I looked behind me and into the distance before I entered. I stared at the stormy, low lying, smoky clouds that blanketed the sun and prevented its light from creeping through. The baby blue sky and the ray of light that poked out from the edges of the clouds lit up the day. The openness of the surroundings that laid outside the woods became absorbed into my mind and I began to think. I realized that there is so much more out there in the world and the universe.
Retrieved from https://networks.h-net.org/node/20292/reviews/21064/perdue-pomeranz-great-divergence-china-europe-and-making-modern-world James Z. Lee and Wang Feng (1999). One Quarter of Humanity: Malthusian Methodology and Chinese Realities 1700-2000. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Thomas R. Malthus (1826). An Essay on the Principle of Population (6th edition).
Looking back to week nine of Professor Cliggett’s lecture, we talked about issues that come about because of population growth. Some of the main issues included lack of food and lack of resources. We talked about a man named Thomas R. Malthus who stated, “Human population grows exponentially, but agriculture increases linearly. ”(Cliggett 2014a) He believed that if we
The worst man made ecological disaster in American history; The Dust Bowl. During The Great Depression, jobs, money, and food were scarce it forced the farmers to over work the soil because there was very little money and food them. So,they had to plant more crops to make ends met. But they did not realize that they were braking up the dirt creating the dust bowl.
In his “An Essay on the Principle of Population” (1798), it is illustrated that land space is becoming scarce and there is a dramatic decrease in the limited resources which could potentially damage the living standards. As Malthus prioritised long-term stability over short-term expediency, the issues of dwindling resources would become an issue for economic growth and ultimately the deficit from the ageing population requirements. Malthus argues that a rapid expansion of population would exceed the resources available in terms of food supplies/production in which will affect the living standards of society. (Victorianweb, 1996) “Unlike population, land does not breed.” (Heilbroner R, 1953)
However, there may be food production advances that we haven’t thought of that will be developed and could become a solution. It appears that Malthus could only reference existing technologies to base his assumptions on humankind's ability to feed itself, and on that basis he assumed our inability produce enough food to feed an increased population. Throughout the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), increasing population pressure on China's arable land was an ongoing problem. Remarkable changes in agriculture in China over this four-century period attest to extraordinary successes in increasing grain production to feed the large population (Columbia).
Anthropocentrism refers to human beings as the central most significant entities of the world. Mankind are superior among all species on earth whilst all other entities are subjected to exploitation for human growth. This belief forms the basis of many western religions and philosophies. A few anthropocentric philosophers argue that the earth’s resources are not limited or increase in human population will not exceed the carrying capacity of earth. They also claim that projections of human population and resource limitations are exaggerated or as time progresses new technology will be available to solve any future scarcity problems.
Anthropocentrism is criticised based on two ways; these are the ontological and ethical senses. According to the ontological criticism, anthropocentrism is the mistake were human beings are placed at the centre of the world without realising that the Earth is a dynamic system and does take any account of how people are or how they choose to represent the form in which things are (Bhaskar, 1989). Anthropocentrism in the ethical criticism is the mistake of prioritising human interests in contrast with the interests of other living things sharing planet Earth with them (Hayward, 1997). The Earth is not an environment to be maintained in its original state or a place to be exploited, and satisfy greedy desires of economic purposes, instead it should be a place to be prepared and used for its capacity that may lead to future usefulness, hence anthropocentric acts are not justifiable because it is morally unacceptable for human population to consider themselves to be of intrinsic value both individually and as a nation (Dubos,
According to www.conserve-energy-future.com, the first factor causing environmental degradation is overpopulation. Rinkesh, World’s Top Eco-Conscious Bloggers and website owner, stated that overpopulation leads to excessive consumption of goods and necessities which impacts natural resources. This is because more people demand more food, clothes, shelter and fuel. Because of this demand, their living space needs to be expanded in order to grow food and provide homes for people.
