Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The world has changed a lot since Malthus. Human numbers have exceeded his wildest dreams, but
sohasagricultural productivity.Also,inMalthus'stime, transportation technology wassuchthat food
had to be produced fairly close to consumers. Nowadays, however, food travels hundreds — even
thousands — of miles to get to your supermarket. Thus, a local crop failure or poor harvest need not
have the devastating effects of yesteryear because food can be brought in from somewhere else.
TodayfewreputablescholarsespousetheliteralwordofMalthus.Butlotsofneo-Malthusiansbelieve
the old bloke basically got it right. Namely, many countries suffer from too many people (see Figure
11-9). And while technology may someday improve the average welfare, population reduction is the
most effective and reliable way to achieve a better balance between people and resources.
Figure 11-9:
A
photo of a slum
in a Third World
country. The low
quality of life in
places such as
this is central to
neo-Malthusian
arguments to lim-
it population.
Cornucopians
This term
cornucopia
recalls “the horn of plenty,” that curly-cued overflowing basket of food one
tends to associate with Thanksgiving decorations. If you camp with
cornucopians,
the viewpoint is
that the world has a food supply problem, not a people supply problem. And in their view, the solu-
tions are not futuristic. Rather, means are available now to greatly increase global food supply and
therefore improve carrying capacity throughout much of the world. They include:
Greater use of green revolution know-how.
Green revolution
refers to a number of ag-
ricultural innovations designed to increase food production in developing countries. Chief
among them are varieties of rice and wheat that have been genetically engineered to increase
their yields as well as their resistance to crop diseases. Increasing access to these relatively in-
expensive strains could greatly help developing countries to increase their carrying capacities.
Improved grain storage.
In several countries a significant portion of grain harvests are
lost to vermin due to poor storage. Modest expenditures on secure storage could substantially
increase available food.
