AUTHOR AND FEATURES EDITOR TIMOTHY MEINCH RESPONDS:
In story, Earth,” raised overpopulation. wrote response “How in concerns many named to to readers Save May’s Those overpopulation about Planet cover who as driving environmental the fundamental climate harm. change factor Years and of climate anthropological studies and records, ancient however, challenge this notion.
We now know humans first began driving megafauna — such as woolly mammoths, giant sloths and saber-toothed cats — toward extinction more than 100,000 years ago in Africa, then Australia and North America, according to a 2018/19 study from the University of NebraskaLincoln. Upon migrating, these early humans hunted down large mammals (likely for food, and perhaps as defense from predators) until they went extinct. Global overpopulation posed no threat at the time.
Fast forward through the agricultural and industrial revolutions, and you’ll find a long series of human practices and consumption preferences that have left excessive marks on ecosystems and the environment: field clearing and deforestation, preferred diets, housing and transportation methods. While it’s true that each human added to the global population demands more resources, we could be leaving a much smaller mark — especially in wealthy, developed nations. An Oxfam study in 2015 demonstrated how the poorest half of the global population generates only about 10 percent of global emissions. Meanwhile, the richest 10 percent of people have 11 the larger producing world’s of there. times the bottom an global scale, CO2, greater average 18 50 North while population percent percent. than carbon only America those of On 5 the lives footprint percent a in is emerging demonstrated in Perhaps lesser-developed climate of greatest that data people places concern, has living often face threats the of greatest, climate immediate change, such as extreme flooding, weather drought events. and other But it is possible to drastically decrease the mark we’re leaving, while slightly increasing the number of humans on Earth to enjoy it. And on that note, there’s good news: Research in 2019 demonstrated how the human population growth has actually been slowing for multiple years. Some projections suggest it will peak at close 11 billion people around 2100.