Biology 2483A Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Poa Annua, Exponential Growth, Ecological Footprint
25 Aug 2013
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Document Summary
Humans have a large impact on the global environment: our population has grown explosively, along with our use of energy and resources. Human population reached 6. 8 billion in 2010, more than double the number of people in 1960. Our use of energy and resources has grown even more rapidly. 1860 to 1991, human population quadrupled in size, and energy consumption increased 93-fold. For thousands of years our population grew relatively slowly, reaching 1 billion for the first time in 1825. Now we are adding 1 billion people every 13 years. Growth rate has slowed recently, to about 1. 18% per year, and continues to slow. By 2080, it is predicted there will be roughly 9 10 billion people on earth. Many people have tried to estimate human carrying capacity. Researchers must make assumptions about how people would live and how technology would influence our future. Estimates range from fewer than 1 billion to more than 1,000 billion.
