Introduction

The population of the world has grown since the foothold of the human species. The U.S. Census Bureau's chart, Historical Estimates of World Population, is shown below as Figure 1. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). This chart shows growth that has taken place since 10,000 B.C. Figure 1. also shows that the population of the world was on a magnitude of hundreds of millions of people during year one. This has grown to 7.3 billion in the year 2015 (United Nations 2015). This interaction with the natural environment has been studied widely and the logistical curve is accepted to show exponential growth and the influence of limiting factors on the rate of growth. Exponential growth is found in a population that has unlimited access to resources (Painka, 2014)

Figure 1. Historical Estiamtes of World Population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015)

Pope Franciscus

Earlier this year the Pope released a document addressing human impacts on the environment. Much of the paper was a very well written, accurate summary of human impacts that need to be addressed in order to retain the structural integrity of the ecosystem. Pope Franciscus (2015) suggests that devlopment associated with this growth is "instaible and irresponsable". Pope Franciscus exspressed the need to establish limits and globalize development. The human population growth rate has dropped from 1.24% to 1.18% in the past ten years (United Nations 2015). Pope Franciscus explains that humans have created "institutions" to regulate interactions so conditions can remain habitable.

Figure 2. Logistical Growth (Painka, 2014)

Limiting Factors

Limiting factors are factors within the environment that slow the rate of growth of a species. This is modeled widely with a sigmoidal curve Figure 2. Humans incorporate a higher level of thinking that allows them to see the impacts of too much population growth. The response to this impact is cultural carrying capacity. Cultural Carrying capacity describes the way populations will create limiting factors in order to control size. The limiting factors account for the top part of the S-shaped graph in Figure 2. Garrett Harding (1988) tells us that humans will demand quality of life that is inversely proportional to the social carrying capacity. Franciscus and Harding both warn that raising populations will have an effect on human quality of life.

References

Franciscus, 2015. Laudato Si‘: On Care For Our Common Home. Retrieved on 25 August 2015 from http://m.vatican.va/content/francescomobile/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco20150524enciclica-laudato-si.html.

Garrett Harding, 1988. Wilderness, a probe into "cultural carrying capacity”. Retrieved 14 September 2015 from, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01255519.

Pianka, Eric R., 2014. Population Growth and Regulation. Retrieved 14 September 2015 from http://www.zo.utexas.edu/courses/Thoc/PopGrowth.html.

United States (U.S.) Census Bureau, 2015. Historical Estimates of World Population Retrieved 7 December 2015 from http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/worldpop/table_history.php.

United Nations (U.N.) Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2015). World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision, Key Findings and Advance Tables. Retrieved 7 December 2015 from http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/publications/files/key_findings_wpp_2015.pdf

Last updated 7 December 2015.