Population and environment – what's the connection?

Activity 3

Aspects of population growth

Prepare a short talk on an aspect of population and its environmental impact. You could choose a topic from the following list or select a topic of your own.

Early populations

  • In what ways were hunter-gatherer populations prevented from increasing too much?
  • What effects might the earliest agriculture have had on the immediate environment?
  • How might environmental degradation have affected civilisations in the past?

Industrial Revolution

  • How do you think the Industrial Revolution has changed our impact on the natural environment and our attitudes to it?
  • On balance, do you think that the Industrial Revolution was a good thing for the human race? What about for other species? Explain your answers.

Population increase

  • What prevents most organisms from increasing their numbers at their maximum possible rate?
  • Why has infant mortality declined so much in the last 100 years?
  • What are the consequences of reducing only the death rate in a population?
  • If each couple in the reproductive section of a population produces fewer than two children on average, how can such a population still be increasing in size?
  • Is putting a compulsory limit on family size the best way to control population growth?

Australia’s population

  • What contribution does immigration make to Australia’s population growth?
  • Why have ideas about Australia’s optimal population varied so much?
  • Explain why Australia has such an uneven population distribution.
  • Summarise the arguments for and against continued population growth for Australia.

Environmental impact of population growth

  • Summarise the environmental consequences of rapid human population growth.
  • Why do some countries use far more resources than others?
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Posted April 2005.