I. Human nutritional requirements: A review, see previous lecture
II. Carrying capacity
B. Human population
2. population projections
C. Human food resources: How many people can the earth sustain [REQUIRED READING]
D. Carrying capacity example - bacteria in a rich medium (milk) in a warm room
III. Summary of some world food problems: Some trends [REQUIRED READING]
2. Main nutritional problem in developed nations
B. Poverty is the main cause of undernourishment and malnourishment; affects at least 1 billion people.
2. Poverty is also a problem in developed nations.
C. Humans are too dependent on just a few crops
D. Declining genetic diversity in our food crops and agricultural animals
2. Domesticated crops have much less genetic diversity
3. Lower genetic diversity increases the likelihood that domesticated plants and animals will succumb to new strains of disease organisms
4. With increasing populations and a demand for industrialization, where will farms exist in densely populated regions of the world?
5. Will the
environment
survive [REQUIRED READING] a rapidly growing population?
Ranking
of nations in their use vs. ecological resources
IV. What are some of the solutions? Some suggestions [REQUIRED READING]
2. First step - providing adequate nutrition and health care facilities
B. Improve existing crops and develop new crops
C. Eat lower on the food chain
D. Do we really
need to worry?
E. Is there a
cost to
diversity?
Other Sites of Interest:
Facing the Future- a good site
talking about history and enviromental impact
A review of 1996 world and
U.S. population trends with links to WWW sites dealing with population
questions
FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization
UN Human Development Programme
Population Reference Bureau
WorldWatch Institute
U.S. Census Bureau-
World population information
1996 World Population
Conference- highlights
Map showing food supply gap between rich and poor countries
Greenpeace
Biodiversity Index
U.S. Population
Clock
Can
we Sustain our Population with Agricultural Improvements?: An FAO
Report
The Economic and Social
Impacts of Population Growth: An opinion
Can
We Feed the Masses: A discussion paper
Global
2000: An overview -- A good article to read!
Population
sites- Yahoo