“Evolution of Animals and Population of Humans”

Note: Online students, please respond to one (1) of the following three (3) bulleted items.

• Read the New York Times article entitled “From Single Cells, a Vast Kingdom Arose” found here then provide a summary of the article. Next discuss what you believe to be the origins of animals.
• Consider three (3) problems out of control population growth will create in regards to the environment. Next discuss three (3) effects of China’s one child rule. In your response please consider social, ethical and environmental sides of the effect.
• Read the Guardian article entitled, “Humans creating sixth great extinction of animal species, say scientist” found here. Next provide a brief summary of the article and in your summary discuss what, if anything happens when an animal or plant species becomes extinct. Next propose three (3) human behavior changes that could help prevent or slow down animal extinction. Justify your response.

REPLY TO STATEMENT DOWN BELOW

Earth. The birthplace of the human race. We live on the planet that provides all of the resources necessary to sustain life for humans, animals and other organisms. Positioned in perfect proximity to the Sun, Earth has the perfect amount of heat, light, water, clean air, and abundance of plant crops necessary and providing continual support for life. Human mortality rates are at a declined due to advanced medicine and technology. The Earth’s approximate maximum capacity for humans are around 10 billion. During these times, the Earth’s population of people are at 7.125 billion. If numbers reach 10 billion for the human population, food shortages and other natural resources will become problematic. The three problems from a result of an out-of-control population growth regarding the environment are as followed:

Decrease Food Supply

During these times, the Earth can provide an abundance of food and crop plants to feed nations. As of today, most of the foods are wasted through the riding in grocery stores, farmlands and in people’s refrigerators. Because the earth is made up of around 70 percent water, dry lands are in low abundance. We need land to harvest and grow plant crops for food. As the population increases, there will be less dry areas to grow crops. The end results can be catastrophic to our food supply.

Water Shortages

There are over a billion humans here on earth that don’t have access to adequate water for consumption, sanitation and agricultural means. An unbalanced population growth will limit the number of water resources because underground water aquifers will be emptied faster than they can be filled.

A Forest Reduction

Because the Earth is only comprised of about 30 percent dry land, an out of control population would mean catastrophe for forest areas. With an increased population comes a need to build homes and businesses.

As indicated in the first part of my post, the Earth’s population is about 7.125 billion. Of that number, 1.357 billion is China’s human population, and the United States is around 316.5 million. The United States land size total is about 3.7 million square miles. China’s land size is about 3.7 million square miles. This means that there are about four times as many people in China than there are in the United States on the same land size. This is one of the reasons why China has adopted a one child for families rule. Once referred to as “Great Wall of Family Planning”, the one child rule was adopted to control the growth of population in China. This rule comes with many effects that include the following:

Imbalance Across Genders

Because the human species will naturally produce more males than female babies, the rule provides an unbalanced ratio of men and women in the population of China.

Elderly Care

Here in the United States, there is no limitation on the number of children a person can have. When the parents progress in a senior age of maturity, offspring’s can often step in to provide care. Because China has a one child rule, there is a shortage of younger family members to help careful China’s aging population.

Fertility Rates

To many Chinese residences, the one child rule can create a sense of anxiety that would promote a desire for young couples to have the one child right away. When this happens, the probability of the couple having a second child is highly likely because of higher fertility rates.