Lecture 10 Flashcards
What does carrying capacity mean
The number of individuals of a species that an ecosystem can support without causing any damage to the ecosystem
What does the human capacity depend on?
Resource consumption
Who is Thomas Robert malthus
A Don and clergyman at oxford university
Malthus was the first person to
Discuss human population
Malthus studied
The population and its effects on society and human happiness
Malthus linked
consequences of population growth to its causes for the first time
Malthus observed that
humans are forced to increase their population by a very powerful instinct to reproduce
What did Malthus realize
That without checks on population growth it will cause us to multiply out of control
Malthus thought that food supply would be limited by what
1) The Arts (now known as the science) of agriculture
2) Finite amount of land available
3) The organization of land ownership
What two types of checks did Malthus create and what did they mean
Positive checks were events for getting rid of people already alive such as war and disease
Preventive checks were all methods which might be used to limit the number of births
Malthus described 5 different Preventive checks, what are they??
a) Contraceptives
b) Abortions
c) Moral Restraint
d) Abstinence
e) Child sacrifice
If population growth outstripped ___ ____ it would lead to _____
Food growth it would lead to poverty
Malthus believed what about poor people
If people remain poor it is their fault for not doing anything about it
What was Malthus an opponent of
Poor laws now known as welfare
What are Neo-Malthusians
People who argue that while Malthus may have been wrong about the timeline and moral issues he was right about having to many people on Earth
Neo-Malthusians believe there are only ___ Solutions to the population problem and what are they
1) A birth rate solution
2) A death rate solution
What is one population control strategy
The Demographic Transition
What is the demographic transition?
The population would control itself as the benefits of economic development spread around the world
What example did we talk about in Class that describes demographic transition
That in 200 years Finland went from a 1.4 Natural increase to 0
What are 4 reasons Demographic transition wont work for current LCD’s
1) Not enough time
2) Economic resources are lacking in LCD’s
3) The rates of Natural increase seen at present in the LCD’s are too high
4) The fossil fuel supplies that helped to drive the transitions in the MDC’s are diminishing rapidly and becoming more expensive
FPP stands for what
Family planning programs
What are family planning programs?
Can be any method which will help a couple determine either the number or the spacing of their children
What are examples of FPP’s
1) Abortion
2) Contraceptives
3) Sterilization
4) Education
What are the three levels of family planning programs and what do they encompass
1) Voluntary programs: Try to provide education and contraceptives for low to no price and allow citizens to make their own decisions
2) Extended Voluntary programs: Have higher levels of encouragement from the government and have rewards for conforming behaviour
3) Forced Family Planning: Governments that make regulations about the number of children a couple may have which are strictly enforced and provided rewards for compliance and punishment for violation
