Avoiding a Malthusian Catastrophe - 783 Words

Thomas Malthus once said, â€Å"The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.† Albert Einstein might argue, on the other hand, â€Å"Necessity is the mother of all invention,† albeit in another context. So, which is it? Are we doomed to unchecked population growth followed by Malthusian catastrophe, or can we avoid it through increased food production, decreasing population growth rates, or some other means? To say Malthusian catastrophe is inevitable is completely unwarranted. Is it possible? Certainly – it is only logical that if human population reached levels which far outstripped food supply, the resulting global famine would create easily ignitable tensions between nations, and†¦show more content†¦This spread in the demographic data available to contemporary researchers show that as nations become more developed, fertility rates do not increase exponentially as predicted, nor even linearly, but eventually plateau or potentially even decrease. This concept, demographic transition, has many contributing factors, many of which are uncertain. Still, even if these influences are poorly constrained, the overall trend towards replacement rates of reproduction is well established. The best example of steady and sustainable population levels is the European Union. The EU is highly industrially and agriculturally developed, yet has growth rates near zero percent, and not onl y a sufficient domestic food supply, but an exportable surplus of grains. Some detractors may be quick to point out that this is not the case in many developing countries like India and Sudan, which face shortages of food and resources that are exacerbated by their rapid growth rate. While true, such criticisms do not stand up to the wealth of data showing a strongly correlated positive feedback loop between increasing education and economic gains and falling fertility rates. That is, once such nations in the second phase of demographic transition receive or implement educational and economic improvements, the resulting chain-reaction can move them into the third phase of sustainability before the population can outgrow their resources.