Do You Think There Is a Carrying Capacity for Humans?

Trang Phan

Sustainability Marketing

        The theory of carrying capacity was first introduced in 1798 by an English clergyman, Thomas Malthus,  as he stated in his book “An Essay on the Principle of Population” that “the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man."  This can also be understood as the Earth we are living in could not be an indefinite support for an ever-increasing human population.  Nowadays, carrying capacity is defined as the “maximum population size that an environment can sustain indefinitely.”  As the population of the world has reached to more than 7.4 billion people in 2016, a question “is a carrying capacity for human?” has risen up.  Many demographers, scientists and economists have been trying to answer this question for years; yet, the answer still remains obscure.

        Carrying capacity is not a fixed number, but depends on how people live their life and use the Earth.  According to Lindsey Bailey on Population Education, carrying capacity is determined by “three main factors: the size of the population, the amount of resources in an area and, how the population uses the available resources.”  With these main factors, Dr. Matt McConeghy stated an estimate of 2 billion to 40 billion carrying capacity on Earth.  However, Julia Layton on "How Stuff Works" also gave out other estimates, such as if humans were still in the hunter-gatherer mode, Earth would have reached its capacity at about 100 million people, or if humans produced food and lived in high-rise buildings, that number would increase significantly.  Other studies also stated that the carrying capacity would be different from time to time, from country to country, and from region to region.  Nowadays, with the development of technology in agriculture, in health services, and in transportation, safe water is available in most places, refrigerators are being used to store foods, and people are able to travel and to spread out.  Many people in populous countries, such as China or India, have migrated to other countries to sustain themselves as their home countries are running out of carrying capacity.

        There is still no definite answer  if there is a carrying capacity for human on the Earth, however, it seems like we are approaching our limit soon if we consume more than we produce.  Many resources will run out, such as clean water, fresh air, food, and space, if we keep using them uncontrollably.

References:

How Many People Can Earth Support? (n.d.). Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://www.livescience.com/16493-people-planet-earth-support.html

Ross Pomeroy. (April 12, 2012). Human Carrying Capacity: Few Answers, Lots of Questions | RCScience. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2012/04/human-carrying-capacity.html