lecture 35: human population growth

Question 1

How many people are living in the world today?

Answer 1

• 7.2 billion people !!!!
• when roger was born there were only 2 billion
• last year in Australia there were 23 330 000
  
  • annual growth rate of 1.8%
  • of that growth, 40% was due to natural increase
  • 60% due to immigration
  • immigration is a very sensitive issue → significant majority not boat people
  • we can’t afford to grow like that
    
    • most affluent and effluent nation
    • wealthier per person than any other nation on earth
  • population of melbourne and sydney will double in our lifetime
  • melbourne growing faster than sydney
  • this is not something we want
• we are the ones who can change the future of the world
• 10 billion → disaster waiting to happen

Question 2

Where will most of the population increase occur?

Answer 2

• africa

Question 3

What is the historic and projected population growth?

Answer 3

• 1800 - 1 billion
• 1930 - 2 billion
• 1960 - 3 billion
• 1974 - 4 billion
• 1987 - 5 billion
• 1999 - 6 billion
• 2011 - 7 billion
• 2024 - 8 billion?

Question 4

What are the population fertility rates?

Answer 4

• australia, US, Canada, brazil, most of europe, china, russia → 2.1 and under
• mexico, central and parts of south america, north africa, india, parts of asia → 2.2 - 3.1
• parts of africa, south america, asia, middle ease, papua new guinea → 3.2 0 4.1
• large parts of africa, a few other countries → 4.2 and over

Question 5

What did the pope say?

Answer 5

• there are not just 7 deadly sins, there are 9
• contraception and abortion → the extra two sins
• population growth rate is so high because we are not providing any cheap, available contraception
• could do it very easily but we don’t have the political will power

Question 6

How can australia influence population growth?

Answer 6

• 2 years ago in london, melinda gates addressed a meeting and said that the number 1 problem facing the world is women’s reproductive health → we are denying them access to what they want
• gave $4 billion from improving women’s reproductive health throughout the developing world
• marie stopes international →

Question 7

What are the relative ages of populations in developed and developing countries?

Answer 7

• in developing countries, the large proportion of young people ensures rapid population growth
• the ageing population in more developed countries, with few future parents, spells little or no growth

Question 8

Who are a few of the stars of the past?

Answer 8

• the revd. thomas malthus (1798)
  
  • wrote an essay where he said that human populations will grow exponentially but the availability of food does not increase exponentially
  • essay on the principle of population
• charles darwin
  
  • realised that there are some incredibly poor people
• sir john hammond
  
  • worked on rabbits in cambridge
  • walked around campus with a bottle of milk
  • had a young polish jew who came to work for him, gregory pincus
  • pincus teamed up in cambdridge with Min Chueh Chang → invented the oral contraceptive pill
• josef

Question 9

Who is marie stopes?

Answer 9

• wrote married love
• lord melvyn bragg → 12 books that changed the world
• thought married love (1918),
• led the fight to have women’s voices heard

Question 10

How can we make a difference?

Answer 10

• in 2012, the Marie Stopes International global partnership reached more people than ever before, providing information, products and services through our centres, outreach services, social franchises, social marketing, community based distributors and health information lines
• 20.8 million couple years of protection

Question 11

What was a publication by pope paul VI that changed the world ?

Answer 11

• the regulation of birth
• the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of controlling the birth of children
• equally to be condemned, is direct sterilisation, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary.
• similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent protection - whether as an end or as a means

Question 12

What is a fifth freedom?

Answer 12

• president roosevelt in 1941 announced the 4 freedoms:
  
  • freedom of speech and expression
  • freedom to worship god in your own way
  • freedom from want
  • freedom from fear
• dougal baird → freedom from the tyranny of unwanted fertility (for women)

Question 13

What is the correlation between life expectancy (years) and CO2 emissions?

Answer 13

Question 14

What is a pill that will stop global warming?

Answer 14

• the oral contraceptive pill
• why don’t we make more use of it

Question 15

What is seen in women who have taken the pill for an extended period of time?

Answer 15

• significantly lower rates of death from ALL causes, including ALL cancers
  
  • all circulatory diseases, and
  • all other diseases, when compared to women who have never taken it

Question 16

Is menstruation normal?

Answer 16

• yes, when compared with our hunter gatherer ancestors

Question 17

Why menstruate?

Answer 17

• jolessa
• levonorgestrel/ethinyl estradiol tablets
• 91 day regimen