Pablo L. Peña's view on Population and Wealth

 Population and Wealth

Pablo L. Peña

Warner Pacific University

ENV-100A-TF4

October 18, 2022

Population and Wealth

For this week’s paper, we’re talking about population and its relation to wealth. There

are a few things we know to be true surrounding our current environmental crisis, 1) that

the formula for human impact on the environment can be summed using this formula: Impact =

Population x Affluence x Technology, 2) that there are so many people on the planet that we’re

dealing with the issue of the population within the law of large numbers (that is, that small rates of

growth still equal huge growth outputs due to the enormity of the starting balance), and 3) that as

affluence grows birth rates drop but individual impacts increase. Any viable solution to the

problems presented to address our environmental issues must at least tangentially address

population. However, it’s not necessary to talk directly about the population when talking about

environmental solutions.

As environmental writer David Roberts points out:

“When political movements or leaders adopt population control as a central

concern ... let’s just say it never goes well. In practice, where you find concern over

“population,” you very often find racism, xenophobia, or eugenics lurking in the wings.

It’s almost always, ahem, particular populations that need reducing.”

He recounts an anecdote from the Sierra Club where a group of members, funded by

outside donors, tried to take over the national organization. Their principal policy issue involved

supporting closed border policies because allowing immigration from poorer countries would

raise their standard of living and by extension increase their environmental impact. There are

moral and ethical issues with that viewpoint though, not the least of which is the fact that the

conditions on which many immigrants are fleeing to the United States over are issues the US

helped create in the first place. It also ignores the suffering that we’d essentially be condemning

these human beings to by simply turning them away simply so we can continue to live lives that

are opulent and unsustainable without regard of the externalized costs we’re asking others to

bear.

In the end, it is a moral and ethical imperative that we take care of our fellow brethren in

need. Money is a useful tool for organizing labor and resources in a society, but economics is a

made-up human concept, not an inherent quality of life on planet Earth. Good economics and

large bank balance sheets mean very little if there’s no clean air to breathe or water to drink. If

our land is too dead to sustain the life that feeds us. Part of any solution that ensures the

sustainability of our environment has to address the impact our large population has on the

planet, but it also must not explicitly choose winners and losers based on arbitrary factors like

socioeconomics or the geographical happenstance of one’s birth. Those are follies of eugenics.

It seems that ultimately those conversations are unnecessary. It is possible to address the

issue of the population without necessarily needing to ever talk about it. Focusing on issues of

education, especially for girls, is an example of an area where we can directly address the issue,

not mention a word of population control, and lead with equity and justice in the forefront.

Simply giving girls and women education, social and economic agency, and opportunities

naturally, lead to family planning and fewer generation-over-generation births. And the best part

is the solution leads from a position that aligns not only with the goal of addressing the issue, but

also lifts all boats rather than condemns those less fortunate than us to suffer for our privilege.

References

Cunningham, W; Cunningham, M. (2020) Principles of Environmental Science: Inquiry &

Application. (Ninth Edition) McGraw Hill Education

Roberts, D. (2018, November 29). I’m an environmental journalist, but I never write about

overpopulation. Here’s why. Vox. https://www.vox.com/energy-andenvironment/

2017/9/26/16356524/the-population-question

How to be an advocate for Climate justice

 We frequently hear that we can't do anything about climate change, that everything we can do is just for self-justification, a feel-good action that is completely irrelevant. Some say that recycling, carpooling, and other individual actions will never stop the severe degradation that humans have caused to the environment. All this is nonsense!

As the whole universe is made of individual atoms, atoms that come together in the form of molecules, molecules that join into substances, substances, that can make organs, and organs become organisms, the key is organization. The vast ocean is made of individual molecules, mostly H2O -water, and is a powerful source of energy and life.

 

Picture from Photos for Class (Creative Commons)

In the same way, we as individuals of this vast human race can organize in powerful forces of change and sources of new ideas and ideals.  Which is the reason for advocacy, over the centuries many have advocated for change in the search for a more just society. Advocates for women's rights, civil rights (including, of course, the end of slavery), nuclear disarmament, the list is huge and has made our world a better place. Now environmental activists are doing the same. We have recognized names like Bill McKibben creator of 350.org who has written extensively about the danger of increased anthropogenic CO2. There are many more authors, teachers, and researchers, some better know than others, but there are many more individuals working at their local level that are not fully recognized at least by the greater society. They are not seeking stardom in our society but only want to do their part. These are the heroes that we need to know about. 

Many religious organizations and individual churches are now getting on board. Some like the Evangelical Environmental Network have a long history as it was created more than 20 years ago. About one hundred organizations came together to form this coalition among them was Warner Pacific University, Jay Barber then president of Warner Pacific is one of the original signatories. At that time President Barber asked me to be the liaison to EEN and so I have been doing it for all these years. To know more about EEN click this link.

The Religious Society of Friends known as Quakers has a long history of advocacy, being one of the first religious organizations to advocate for the ending of slavery in the USA. Now they are an important part of the environmental justice movement. Stewardship has many aspects and one of them, which is critically important, is advocacy. This can be done in many ways, from writing letters to government officers and representatives, to active marching and sittings in government offices and corporations.

What do you think you can do? Or willing to do? Can you give economic support?

The first step is to be informed, and there are many ways to get information. You are taking the first step by reading this post. Get together with other like-minded friends, colleagues, and relatives and start talking about options.

Please write in the comments if you need more information.

Allicia Hull's Pros and Cons About Dams

 Dams are all used all over the world to help conserve and direct water. Dams are able to provide a resource too far away cities to provide help. Originally Dams were erected in order to help farmers tend to their crops. Dams also create reservoirs which can be used to separate water for consumption, bathing, and other uses. As Dams became more popular, engineers were able to draw power from the Dams to create power and move turbines.

The use of Dams can help create hydropower, distribute water to more cities, and conserve water to lower effects of droughts they are also costly and can hurt the environment. The effects that Dams have on the environment can harm more than do good. “Dams change the way river's function. They can trap sediment, burying rock riverbeds where fish spawn. Gravel, logs, and other important food and habitat features can also become trapped behind dams.” (N.d, 2005) Dams affect the natural currents in the water and the fish habitat. The cost of a Dam is antimoniacal as well, and the largest Dam in China cost thirty-one billion dollars to construct, this number does not include the upkeep and maintenance of the Dam. (Yue, 2016) By not using a Dam, there would need to be other ways to save water. By utilizing water conserving appliances and measuring how much water intake is happening we can easily decrease this.

There however are many benefits of having Dams around the world. Hydroelectric power is created from the water that is passed through a Dam. It can power cities and is considered clean renewable energy. (Miller, 2020) As of 2020 Hydroelectricity powers nineteen percent of the world's energy supply. Dams are also used to help farms that normally could not contain much moisture, helping the farm prosper. By utilizing a Dams reservoir during a drought, a farm can be watered helping those resources survive. Originally farming is the reason Dams were created, to help farmers and communities during a drought as well as provide water to people. Not only have Dams given water to people in need, but it has also created jobs for many countries.

Two Sides of an Issue Essay 3

While Dams cost a lot of money and homes are relocated in the place of a Dam, they do have a lot of benefits. Hydroelectricity helps the world on a larger scale than just water conservation. Since Dams can harm the earth, a good resource would be having more Embankment Dams across the world.” The embankment dam can be defined as a dam constructed from natural materials excavated or obtained nearby.” (Breeze, 2014) These can be made of Rock and help the irrigation and water conservation that can help others. Embankment Dams do have to be tended to and watched more closely as they can be flooded, but they are a natural resource that can be utilized at a lower cost.

Two Sides of an Issue Essay 4

References

Breeze, Paul 2014 Embankment, Dams https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/embankment-dams

Miller, Brandon 2020 17 Biggest Advantages and Disadvantages of Dams, https://greengarageblog.org/17-biggest-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-dams

N.d, 2019 Dams, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/dams/

N.d , 2019 How Dams damage Rivers, https://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/restoring-damaged-rivers/how-dams-damage-rivers/

Ma, Yue 2016 Three Gorges Dam, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam

Sierra Combs' Take on Population and Technology

             The Earth’s population is growing at an alarming rate. The current population according to the United States Census Bureau, is over 7.7 billion people and counting (Bureau, 2021). It is projected to increase to over 8 billion by 2025 and reach 9 billion by 2040 (LeBlanc, 2021). Humans are the most widely distributed and manifestly have a greater global environmental impact than any other species (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2020). Given current circumstances, the population increase is outpacing the ability of our planet to support it.

            Technology has increased the carrying capacity for humans. The surge of world population growth began 200 years ago and was stimulated by industrial and scientific revolutions. Advancements made in agricultural productivity, engineering, information technology, commerce, medicine, sanitation, and other modern achievements have made it possible to support 1,000 times as many people per unit area as was possible 10,000 years ago. There are still concerns about whether limited supplies easily acquired natural resources and fossil fuels, or adverse consequences of their use will result in a crisis in food production, transportation, or some other critical factor in human society (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2020). 

The relationship involving overpopulation and the environmental impacts are interrelated and complex. Some of the key environmental issues associated with overpopulation include farming impacts, deforestation, eutrophication, freshwater scarcity, and global warming. The main economic issues associated with overpopulation are food, mineral, and food shortages, low per capita income, unemployment, social and economic insecurity, and increased pressure on environmental and land degradation (LeBlanc, 2021). The term conservation vs preservation is an appropriately used term in reference to overpopulation. Earth’s massive population has a major impact on the environment and must be checked in order to preserve the planets natural heritage. Conservation vs preservation both imply a level of protection. Conservationists aim to regulate human use and look for ways to enhance the economy at the same time. Preservationists aim to eliminate human use of the environments and preserve the life of all living beings. Conservation plays an essential role in limiting human practices to a sustainable level. Conservation promotes sustainability and responsible management of natural habitats and resources. Preservation serves as a way to maintain natural areas and addresses the concern of human encroachment on the environment.

Overpopulation and overconsumption are one of the most pressing ethical issues faced at this time. There are those that oppose coercive population restraint policies on ethical grounds. They believe that population control mechanisms degrade the value of human life and is morally unacceptable. Advocates for population control assert that it is necessary to combat global poverty and the continuing deterioration of the environment. Population raises important ethical issues regarding the balance between reproductive rights and environmental and social responsibility.   

There are many proactive solutions that can be taken to resolve the issues associated with overpopulation. One unique solution could be modeled after the Population and Community Development Association in Thailand. After recognizing rapid population growth in poor, rural areas, Mechai Viravaidya developed a way to spread information regarding family planning and population growth through humorous methods. The PDA hands out free condoms, sells t-shirts with safe sex messages, and pays farmers money to paint birth control ads on the sides of their water buffalo. By addressing the topic of birth control and family planning through humor, PDA has successfully made the issue less taboo. When PDA started in 1974, Thailand’s growth rate was 3.3 percent per year. In 15 years, the growth rate fell to 1.6 percent and contraceptive use among married couples increased from 15 to 70 percent (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2020). Some other ways to solve the overpopulation issue would be educating and empowering women and giving them easy, affordable access to reproductive health services. Educating ourselves and others about the negative impacts of overpopulation is crucial. Government incentives and tax should also be put into action. Individuals can also work to provide a solution. Reducing emissions, conserving water, saving energy, and consuming less are all simple solutions that can easily be adopted in an effort to reduce our environmental impact. From the time we wake up in the morning, we are making decisions that impact whether or not we are supporting sustainable lifestyles. Our personal actions may not seem like they make much of an impact short term, but it is important to realize that they do add up over time. Adopting sustainable practices and teaching our children about sustainability is important not only for our own future, but for our children and our children’s children. Our planet as well as future generations can all benefit from the sustainable practices we engage in today.

 It is an innate human desire to want to produce, but we are doing it at an excessive rate. It is imperative that we implement solutions that will clear paths forward to a more sustainable world where humans can share a habitat and resources with other species. Scarcity of our resources will only ensure suffering, war, and death.

References

Bureau, U. S. C. (2021, July 7). World population Day: July 11, 2021. The United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/world-population-day.html.

Cunningham, W. P., & Cunningham, M. A. (2020). Principles of environmental science: Inquiry and applications (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

LeBlanc, R. (2021, February 6). The environmental impacts of overpopulation. The Balance Small Business. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-overpopulation-impacts-the-environment-4172964#:~:text=2%EF%BB%BF%20Population%20is%20growing,to%20eutrophication%20and%20global%20warming. 

Mary Davis' Take on "China' One Child Policy"

         In 1978, the new Chairman Deng Xiaoping reversed many of the previous Chairman Mao’s policies, including discouraging large families. This was due to China’s population growth that would only continue and put a strain on their sparce resources. The most controversial policy Chairman Deng established was a one-child-per-family policy. While there were some exceptions for farmers and minorities, the punishment for forbidden children was severe and include forced abortions, sterilizations, and the extermination of infants. The government became concerned about the ‘birth dearth’- whether the population would continue to rise to keep the economy growing and society functioning. And so, in 2015, the policy was relaxed to allow two children to families. And although the one-child policy was terminated, birthrates have remained low. India did not have the same success as China with their form of population control - obligatory sterilization. Public outrage forced the government to turn over control to the individual states and their population is still expected to reach 1.7 billion by 2050 while China on the other hand, will reach zero population growth by 2030.

While the one-child policy sought to limit population growth so that the country and its populist could enjoy a higher quality of life, it raises the question regarding individual rights versus the collective rights. A society is created with the expectation of basic individual rights and freedoms independent of any government policies or regulations. With the government regulating reproductive rights, it viewed humans as a group with economic implications rather than individuals that made up that community. Of course, even with the policy in place, there were exceptions for rural areas where families needed extra hands in the fields or if the parent’s job was a hazardous one. Even with these exceptions, the atrocities carried out against women as the actual enforcement of the policy included job loss, abortions – either forced or used for sex-selection, child abandonment, infanticide and in 222 million cases, sterilization (Jian, 2013).                                                                                                       

Along with the savage acts of enforcement, there were other impacts of the policy. With the individual families choosing male children over females, a gender imbalance was created where now there are 30 million more men than women (NPR 2016). In addition to too many men, a lack of siblings and in future generations, a lack of aunts and uncles, leave a rapidly aging population with only one child to care for multiple elderly relatives. This is referred to as the 4-2-1 problem – 4 grandchildren, 2 parents and one child (Cunningham 2016).

With the estimated 40 million births that the one-child policy prevented, the imbalances to the country’s food supply and natural resources subsided. However, with the now smaller labor force, China may not be able to continue a successful economic growth. With this threat looming, the government has now taken the opposite stance and are focused on woman having more children to increase the country’s birthrate (Guardian 2019).

China still has the world's largest population and a responsibility to provide for its citizens and will therefore promote policies that they believe will help the community survive, whether it respects individual rights or not. As they have discovered, using the extreme policy of limiting the birthrate has created more and continuing issues. Rather than creating these policies that truly tend to disregard individual’s reproductive rights, the government should allow its citizens the opportunity to make their own choices regarding their family size. It all comes down to the basic fundamental that public policy needs to balance human rights and obligations to economic attainability.

REFERENCES

Cunningham, W. P., & Cunningham, M. A. (2013). Principles of environmental science: Inquiry & application. McGraw-Hill.

Guardian News and Media. (2019, March 2). Can China recover from its DISASTROUS one-child policy? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/02/china-population-control-two-child-policy.

Jian, M. (2013, May 22). China's brutal one-child policy. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/opinion/chinas-brutal-one-child-policy.html.

NPR. (2016, February 1). How China's one-child policy led to forced Abortions, 30 Million Bachelors. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2016/02/01/465124337/how-chinas-one-child-policy-led-to-forced-abortions-30-million-bachelors.

 

Tanya Burleson's Understanding of Our Planet

 By Tanya Burleson

Because environmental systems are interconnected, environmental science integrates several different fields to help explain our planet. A few of these are biology, geography, and economics. These fields, among others, give us logical explanations on how, when, and what was created and how it impacts our current world. Using the information discovered helps us make decisions on how we interact with the world around us.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, biology “helps us understand the living world and the ways its many species (including humans) function, evolve, and interact. Advances in medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, and many other areas of biology have brought improvements in the quality of life” (Rogers, Green, Joshi, 2019). Biology helps us understand our origin, and we evolved. Understanding how we evolved has led to the development of vaccines, medications, pet care, and so much more.

Geography, as explained by The National Geographic, “seeks to understand where things are found and why they are present in those places; how things that are located in the same or distant places influence one another over time; and why places and the people who live in them develop and change in particular ways” (National Geographic Society, 2012).

Using geography, you can map out disease infections to find its point of origin. Knowing the origin point of a disease allows us to isolate it and try to keep it from becoming a pandemic. Mapping first began in London, England, in 1854 during the cholera outbreak. “Dr. John Snow represented the deaths per household on a street map. Using the map, he was able to trace the source of the outbreak to a water pump on the corner of Broad Street and Cambridge Street. The geographic perspective helped identify the source of the problem (the water from a specific pump) and allowed people to avoid the disease (avoiding water from that pump)” (National Geographic Society, 2012).

Appalachian State University says that economics “helps people understand the world around them. It enables people to understand people, businesses, markets, and governments, and therefore better respond to the threats and opportunities that emerge when things change” (Appalachian State University, n.d.). Economics helps us understand our resources and how we use them.

An example of these three sciences working together is the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC uses the mapping to track the outbreaks and found that COVID-19 originated in China. Scientists used biology to study the virus and determine where it originated from, either a bat or a lab. Economics helped to assess the impact of the pandemic on our society. Our government leaders were able to use all this information to make decisions to help slow the spread of the virus.

I believe we all play an essential part in keeping our planet healthy. In my lifetime, I have seen changes in our weather and our seasons. We have gone from snowy winters to icy ones. We have gone from mild summers to record heat. If we all recycled more, limited our waste, and drove less, it would help reduce some of the carbon gases in the air. If we give our atmosphere time to release or use the added carbon, the planet can start to heal itself.

References

Appalachian State University (n.d.). Why study Economics? Department of Economics. Appalachian State University. Retrieved from https://economics.appstate.edu/node/245

Cunningham, W.P. & Cunningham, M. A. (2020). Principles of environmental science: inquiring & application. McGraw-Hill Education. New York: NY

National Geographic Society. (2012). geography. National Geographic Society. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/geography/

Rogers, K., Green, E. R. & Joshi, S. H (2019). biology. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from  https://www.britannica.com/science/biology

 

Understanding Our Planet Paper

 By Adam K Eckard

            This is an essay on the nature and function of our planet and just how it can sustain life and how long this can go on. Just how we must learn how much damage humankind has done to this planet and just how it can be repaired. In other words what can we do as humans to repair our planet so that it doesn’t die taking us along with it.

            Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary science that incorporates the influences of many other sciences such as the physical, biological, and informational sciences to understand the effects of what humankind has done to the world that we live in; how we can repair it so that it is sustainable. It also studies how the natural world functions and how it has changed or evolved over the millennia.

            By gaining a better understanding of these sciences and their interdependence we can repair the planet if we work together. This includes the new economic powers such as India and especially China. We need to work together to solve these problems and the internet can make the sharing of information so much easier. The great advantage of the Information Science is that it combines the understanding of the ecology, biology, physics, chemistry, plant sciences, zoology, mineralogy, oceanology, limnology, soil science, geology, and physical science and atmospheric science. The better these are understood the more we can repair things like the ozone or come up with better way to produce power that are not so catastrophic. Such as Chernobyl or Fukushima.

            In environmental science ecologists study how plants and animals interact with each other. This includes biodiversity and complexity of the environments that make up the world that we live in. How the decline of the Great Barrier Reef affects the Eco structure and the living things that live in it. And hopefully how to fix it.

            This can include social sciences as well. The need for trained scientists in a broad range of fields has created a need for this as well. Having the proper people trained in these fields creates a need to better utilize them and to have a better trained cadre of supervisors and managers to accomplish this task. How to use the correct techniques and equipment to say repair creeks and streams in areas affected by over logging or severe forest fires. How to make a comprehensive land use plan to restore the Tillamook Forest in the Pacific Northwest. That forest has been ravaged by forest fires in 1933, 1939, 1945, and 1951. Also, in 2021 another large forest fire has been raging. To restore this forest, it would really take a very complicated plan that would take a millennium at least.

            As soon as we can get a better understanding of these sciences then we can create a truly sustainable energy grid that would emphasize more solar, and a less damaging footprint ecologically. Slowing the use of coal powered power plants. Or how to create a more natural ‘fish ladder’ so that salmon runs could be easier for the fish. This would be a major ecological and economical infrastructure for the nation and the world. Or a more efficient use of water around the world.

            This is a complicated subject not just scientifically but politically as well. To get the worlds scientists to work together might happen, but to get the worlds politicians to cooperate is a totally different matter. Political science has not been incorporated into the study of the environment yet. It is the opinion of this person that it should be, and soon.

References

Rinkesh. (2021) What is Environmental Science?

www.conserve-energy-future.com/what-is-environmental-science-and-its-components.php