Homo sapiens is a creature of earth, not separate from the natural world. Just as
it is for other species within the web of life of earth, food is a fundamental basis
of life for the human species. There are other factors that help sustain life, but
food is a root cause of the growth of all species (3,4,5).
Population growth of a species can become a biological problem. In the case of
Homo sapiens, a self-reinforcing feedback loop has been established in the
food-population relationship because other natural limiting factors to the unbridled
growth of human population numbers have been eliminated by human ingenuity
(e.g., sanitation, medical technology). Humans are an exceptional species in many
ways, but not in terms of population dynamics (3,4,8). Hence the recent explosion
of absolute global human population numbers that are primarily caused by
spectacular annual increases in the human food supply is derived from enhanced
food production and distribution capabilities. Other species cannot produce food
beyond that provided by the natural world.
The conundrum: increasing food production and distribution capabilities
continuously, specifically for the purpose of meeting the needs of a growing
human population, has also fueled a population explosion. With each passing
year, more people are being fed, yet more people are going hungry.
Regardless of what we believe because it is politically convenient, economically
expedient, socially correct, religiously tolerated and/or culturally syntonic to do
so, we are currently confronted with an undeniable biological problem that is
explained in uncontested ecological science of human population dynamics. A
new biological understanding is emerging from ongoing research that replaces a
biologically implausible, ideologically driven, logical contrivance. Stated simply: as
is the case with other species, food is the independent, not the dependent,
variable in the relationship between food and population numbers (3,4,7).
It is food availability that drives population increases and it is that population
growth which fuels the false perception, the misleading impression, the fatally
flawed conception that food production needs to be increased to meet the needs
of a growing population. Year after year, while food production is increased,
leading to global human population number increases, hundreds of millions in the
human family continue to go hungry. Why are those people not getting fed? And
why is it that future generations may never be fed? We are increasing the number
of hungry people as we feed more people. World hunger grows annually despite
abundant total food harvests. Starvation has not been remedied by boosting food
production. Increasing food production to eliminate malnourishment, hunger, and
starvation has not been a solution. See this graph:
One billion worldwide are hungry, says the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization,
prices blamed in part. Updated January 12, 2019. Posted October 15, 2009.
What is becoming evident is that the overproduction, overconsumption,
and overpopulation activities of the human species are occurring synergistically
and simultaneously threatening life as we know it. The spectacular increases of
these distinctly human overgrowth and overshoot activities are causing the mass
extirpation of earth’s biodiversity, the relentless dissipation of its limited
resources, and the unbridled degradation of its environs which, when taken
together, present a clear and immediate threat to a healthy future for children
everywhere and coming generations.
The enormous, unbridled increase in the overall magnitude of the human
population in our time on a planet with the size, composition, and ecology of
earth has precipitated a growing number of deleterious circumstances, including
environmental pollution, biodiversity loss, ecological disruption, and climate
destabilization. Global human activity is threatening the future of life as we know
it and the planet as a fit place for human habitation (1,6).
After thousands of years of stable human population numbers, the past 225 years
have seen total population increase in size from 1 to 8 billion. How are humans
going to limit sensibly and effectively the current unbridled growth of their
population numbers without beginning to limit “increases only” in the total
production of food for human consumption? Alternatives to this step (e.g.,
educational/economic opportunities for females, contraception for
males/females, and voluntary sterilization) represent necessary goals to be
achieved, that is certain. But these and other helpful interventions, by
themselves, will prove insufficient to stabilize human population numbers
because human beings will continue to live or die primarily as a function of food
supply (1,3,4,5,7).
The science of human population dynamics makes one thing clear. The United
Nations mantra “food production must be increased annually to meet the needs
of a growing population” is a widely shared and consensually validated mistake of
colossal proportions (2.3,7). This mantra is not an expression derived from
language of science. By recognizing how the mistake is generated out of the realm
of the preternatural, we can replace it with a more accurate understanding of a
condition of being human (i.e., population dynamics of Homo sapiens) and a more
fulsome appreciation of the way the world we inhabit works, with humans now
visibly disclosed as an integral part of the web of life.
If ever the human community is sensibly and meaningfully able to restrain the
recent bacteria-like growth of human population numbers, limiting increases in
total food production for human consumption will need to be a part of any
program of action. If food harvests that sustain the lives of eight billion people are
simultaneously and more fairly redistributed so that the human family is provided
sustenance along with universal, free, safe, accessible, voluntary
contraception/sterilization, such steps in a comprehensive program of action
might well lead toward population stabilization and the reduction of human
suffering associated with the insufficient availability of food.
References
1. Christopher Bystroff. Footprints to singularity: A global population model
explains late 20th century slow-down and predicts peak within ten years. May
2021, PLOS ONE, 16(5): e0247214
2. Jared L. Diamond. The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race. 1987,
Discover 8(5): 64-66
3. Russell P. Hopfenberg and David I. Pimentel. Human Population Numbers as a
Function of Food Supply. January 2001, Environment Development and
Sustainability 3(1):1-15
4. Hopfenberg R. P. Human Carrying Capacity Is Determined by Food Availability.
January 2003, Population and Environment. 25(2):109-117
5. Steven, Earl Salmony. Food and Population Growth. June 2004,
EnvirHealthPersp. 112(6): A339-40
6. Salmony, Earl Salmony. The Human Population: Accepting Earth’s Limitations. January
2005, EnvirHealthPersp. 112(17): A979-80
7. Salmony, Earl Salmony. The Human Population: Accepting Species Limits. February 2006,
EnvirHealthPersp. 114(1): A17-18
8.Diny Zulkarnaen and Marianito R. Rodrigo. Modelling human carrying capacity
as a function of food availability. July 2020 ANZIAM Journal.62(3):313-333
|
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven Earl Salmony, Ph.D., M.P.A., established The AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population in 2001. He lives in Fearrington Village, North Carolina, USA, and can be contacted at sesalmony@aol.com.
|
![[groups_small]](groups_small.gif)