Pre-Class Preparation Pre-Class Preparation
Objectives
Class images
 | Current planet population: Updated every 30 seconds. |
| Fertility, mortality, and population growth rates. |
| Haub, Carl, Global and US National Population Trends. |
Class Discussion
Summary Prepared by: Will Myers, Michelle Johnson, and Joe HerringOnline unit summary information:
Unit 3-1 deals with the controlling factors and trends in the human population of our planet. The learning objectives for this unit are:
- To review data on past global and regional population trends and demographic patterns.
- To understand the relationship between economic development and demographic factors.
Unit 3-1 deals with the global human population and the factors that influence and affect it. Many key points are stated in the summary information regarding various population related issues. First of all the issue of counting the worlds massive population is issued and problem that are associated with different census methods in many nations. I is estimated that the world population is known to be accurate within -3% or 200 million. The important concept of demogrphic transition is introduced. This concept entails the process of change in which a nations levels of high fertility and mortality shigt to lower values.
Another issue addressed is the causes and problems associated with a great increase in the human population in the 20th century. Main reasons for this are advancing medical technology which in effect lowers infant mortality and deaseses and in addition also raising the life expectancy many years. Fertility rates of developing and developed country´s are also a key issue affecting world population rates. A country´s TFR(total fertility rate) is the average number of children a women will bear in her lifetime. These values vary greatly between developing and developed country´s. Developing country´s tend to have a much higher TFR when compared to that of a developed country such as the United States. Controlling global TFR becomes a serious issue when trying to keep the global population under control.
Another key issue covered quite extensivly in the summary reading is projecting future global populations and problems/methods that are associated with it. Many factors are addressed that lead to population differeces between country´s. In addition many different things are being done to control this looming problem of over population. It is stated that experts really do not know what the future holds. It is a great challenge to estimate future numbers based on changing trends and unforeseen issues which vary greatly globally. Experts have, however found solutions to these problems such as encouraging demographic transition, which in time can stabilize the planets population. The main challenge now lies in selling this idea to the rest of the world.
Online disscusion summery:
A student noted that specific effects of cures for diseases are not mentioned in the unit summary. This information is important because cures for diseases such as cancer and AIDS are important factors in calculating future population growth projections. A new type of birth control called immunological contraception has been developed and is currently in the process of being approved for developing countries. A student researched the contraceptive, referred to falsely as a birth control "vaccine," and brought up some interesting points. With strong ongoing efforts to stabilize population growth around the world, morality is often lost. The goal in the long run should be to promote safe, ethical choices for the well being of individuals and future generations. The problem to ponder asks the population of the student body if every number on an ISU card was used by a student. Since there are 17 digits on the ISU card, the lowest number would be 17 zeros and the highest number would be seventeen nines. The population was figured to be 100 patillion people. Several issues were discussed in lecture regarding how developing and developed country´s are handling population growth. Reasons discussed were developing country´s technology has only reasently become developed enough to address an issue like this. Also disscused was the concept of demographic transition. Developing country´s have began educating about birthcontrol to women but men are still uneducated on this subject. Several web sites were researched by curious students, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.N. Population Fund. These sites are excellent research tools for this unit.
Post-Class Activities
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Freshwater stress: Current population
at risk |
| Bongaarts, John, 1994: Population Policy Options in the Developing World. Science, 263, 771-776. (Includes references.) |
| Essay on Being Unique |
| HIV InSite |
| Population Policy: Consensus and Challenges. |
| Cohen, Joel E., 1995: Population Growth and Earth's Human Carrying Capacity. Science 269, 341-346. |
| Dietz, Thomas, and Eugene A. Rosa., 1994: Rethinking the Environmental Impacts of Population, Affluence and Technology. Human Ecology Review 1, Summer/Autumn, 277-300. |
 | The Demographic and Population Studies - WWW Virtual Library. Provided by the Australian National University. |
| Fourth World Women's Conference, Beijing, April 1995. |
| 
Population Growth, technical atlas, WFS. (To download Adobe Acrobat Reader, go to
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html). |
| Population, rate of increase, birth and death rates, surface area and density for the world, macro regions and regions. |
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Refugees, technical atlas, WFS. |
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Rural and urban populations, technical atlas, WFS. |
| World Population Growth Simulation. |
| 1994 UN Population and Development Conference (Cairo). |
| Bongaarts, J., 1998: Demographic consequences of declining fertility. Science 282, 419-420. |