Population and the World Hunger Debate
The correlation between over-population and growing world hunger has become a controversial topic in today’s society. Concerns of population expansion, world starvation, and environment destruction are matters of debate and are of much concern for their outcomes affect everyone of society. The world is home to an estimated 6 billion people with more than 80 million additions every year. With this astonishing growing rate of population it is necessary to address the matter of world hunger before it is too late. The three main theories of world population and the correlation to world hunger are debatable; however, it is ultimately left to an individual to determine the truth/ answer to such theories of world hungers origin.
Over two hundred years ago, Thomas Malthus proposed the theory that world starvation is directly linked with the population living on earth. He argued that the world’s population would increase at a faster rate than compared to the rate of the food production. This imbalance would in turn lead to mass starvation for there would not be enough food to feed all the mouths of the world. Malthus acknowledged that food is necessary for human existence; therefore, in order to eliminate world hunger population and food production must be kept at an equal balance.
Malthusian theory also deemed population expansion would have a direct correlation between the environment and its future destruction. The environment is the home not only to humans but also to the wildlife, vegetation, and other living species of the world. “Population will have a very serve, even catastrophic, impact on the natural environment and human welfare (Walker, On Wall Street). Over-populat...
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...ction thus elimination world hunger. Argued by the author of Life on Earth is Getting Better, Not Worse, Julian Simon claims the per person food production in the world in up over the last 30 years because of advances in technology. It is thought that as long as technology can keep up with the world’s population there will be no fear of over-population. It is thought that the long-run overview of the world is one of a more pleasurable, material life rather than one increased with scarcity (Simon, 415).
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Ayittey, George B. Enough Food For the World. The Washington Post. A26.
Simon, Julian. Life on Earth is Getting Better, Not Worse. The Ultimate Resource.
Princeton Press. 1981. Pg. 415.
Walker, Lews. Economist of Doom. Thomas Malthus Influence Continues. On Wall
Street. 01-01-97.
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“An Essay on the Principle of Population” is written by Thomas Malthus where he outlines his theory on population growth. He thought that if population continued to grow, food production wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand and he believed that many people would die due to famine. Either people would have to use more contraception to drop the birth rate, or the death rate would increase due to wars, disease or
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Many philosophers and individuals have argued that we are obligated to try to eliminate world hunger. But often these philosophers and individuals provide different reasons as to why we are obligated to reduce world hunger. On the one hand we have individuals like Peter Singer who take the utilitarian point of view. Utilitarianism argues that our actions should increase the overall happiness in the world. On the other hand we have people like Onora O’Neill who sides with the Kantian point of view. The Kantian point of view argues that we should eliminate world hunger because the nature of this act is good, hence it makes it right. Although, both sides arrive at the same conclusion, that doesn’t mean that we should accept that both ways of thinking
It is a known fact that the world population is increasing without bound; however, there is a debate if this increase is a good thing or if it will prove catastrophic. The article “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin discusses how the ever-increasing world population will exhaust the world of its natural resources, and eliminate human’s capability for survival. On the other side of the argument is Julian L. Simon who wrote “More People, Greater Wealth, More Resources, Healthier Environment.” This article proposes the theory that with an increase in population, humans’s quality of life is amplified. One particular issue that they both mention and have drastically different views on is the future of agriculture and human’s ability to sustain it.
There are many problems confronting our global food system. One of them is that the food is not distributed fairly or evenly in the world. According “The Last Bite Is The World’s Food System Collapsing?” by Bee Wilson, “we are producing more food—more grain, more meat, more fruits and vegetables—than ever before, more cheaply than ever before” (Wilson, 2008). Here we are, producing more and more affordable food. However, the World Bank recently announced that thirty-three countries are still famine and hungers as the food price are climbing. Wilson stated, “despite the current food crisis, last year’s worldwide grain harvest was colossal, five per cent above the previous year’s” (Wilson, 2008). This statement support that the food is not distributed evenly. The food production actually increased but people are still in hunger and malnutrition. If the food were evenly distributed, this famine problem would’ve been not a problem. Wilson added, “the food economy has created a system in w...
925 million people are living today without any breakfast, lunch or dinner. Day after day, they starve without any food. The worst part is that we don’t have enough food to feed the world today so how will we be able to feed the world in 2050 if the worlds population is supposed to grow by 7 billion people?! The world’s population will grow from 7 billion to about 9.6 billion by 2050 and food production will have to increase by 70 percent.
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