Regulation of Anthropogenic Load of the Habitat

Received 14.10.2020. The statistical data of 180 countries show a serious lag of GDP per capita in the developing world as a result of high birth rate and population growth of these countries per 1000 habitants. As a result, in accordance with the UN forecasts, the global population may reach 11 billion by 2100 and achieve the permissible level of anthropogenic load. Using the S-curve the article analyzes the pace of approximation of the global population growth limit. Global changes such as climate change and the spread of the pandemic as well as the local events, e. g. unauthorized migration to Europe and the US, depletion of drinking water and mineral resources, continuous military conflicts in Africa, the revival of sea piracy prove that the permissible level of anthropogenic load will soon be achieved. The article proposes a new concept of stabilizing the global population by 2100. It is based on international birth and population growth control through increased external assistance to countries of the developing world. The “ladder” shows the correlation between the increase in population and GDP, using which developing countries can reach zero population growth. The article suggests principles for designing a roadmap to reach zero population growth by the end of the century. Implementing the zero population growth concept will require the transformation of the market economy from its focus on GDP growth and income to the economy of environmental safety.

Deep Ecology Gone Wrong: J.-C. Rufin’s Globalia and Le Parfum d’Adam

In Globalia and Le Parfum d’Adam J.-C. Rufin explores what could go wrong with the environmentalist movement, if it were co-opted by unwise or greedy leaders. Globalia is the sole country in a dystopian world governed according to the principles of deep ecology: vegetarianism, strict protection of forests and animals, and zero population growth. It is a sterile, climate-controlled world, covered by domes. “Non-zones” outside the domes are homes to mobsters, warring tribes, and resistants. They constitute a feared outside enemy which serves to unite most Globalians in support of their totalitarian government. This novel echoes Alexis de Tocqueville’s fear that a “tyranny of the majority” might someday rule the United States. Le Parfum d’Adam is a thriller about ecoterrorists who, obsessed by the deep ecology principle that world population must decrease, plot to contaminate the water system of a huge favela of Rio de Janeiro. They believe that poor people—too busy surviving to think about ecology—are destroying the planet.

Depopulation Processes in European Rural Areas: A Case Study of Cantabria (Spain)

Europe witnessed massive migration away from rural areas throughout the 20th century. Spain was no exception to the rule, albeit with differences in timing and pace, and the population in Cantabria constitutes a paradigmatic case. Here, the rural exodus began early – before the mid-20th century – in some mountainous districts, but reached a peak in the 1960s and continued throughout the following decades. Since the 1990s, population levels in rural municipalities have fallen at a slower rate, while the population of the region as a whole has increased slightly. Disturbingly, the rural population has continued to decline in the early 21st century, in an overall context of almost zero population growth. The demographic trends analyzed here are not only different in time, but also in space. With the partial exception of regional capitals and their neighbouring communities, municipalities in mountain districts have witnessed such a substantial decline in their populations that they have experienced a genuine process of depopulation. This case does not explain the all-similar cases in rural Europe as a whole, but it can help in interpreting other comparable processes in different regions of southern Europe where depopulation reached its maximum in the second half of the 20th century and still continues today.

Periodic catastrophes over human evolutionary history are necessary to explain the forager population paradox

The rapid growth of contemporary human foragers and steady decline of chimpanzees represent puzzling population paradoxes, as any species must exhibit near-stationary growth over much of their evolutionary history. We evaluate the conditions favoring zero population growth (ZPG) among 10 small-scale subsistence human populations and five wild chimpanzee groups according to four demographic scenarios: altered mean vital rates (i.e., fertility and mortality), vital rate stochasticity, vital rate covariance, and periodic catastrophes. Among most human populations, changing mean fertility or survivorship alone requires unprecedented alterations. Stochastic variance and covariance would similarly require major adjustment to achieve ZPG in most populations. Crashes could maintain ZPG in slow-growing populations but must be frequent and severe in fast-growing populations—more extreme than observed in the ethnographic record. A combination of vital rate alteration with catastrophes is the most realistic solution to the forager population paradox. ZPG in declining chimpanzees is more readily obtainable through reducing mortality and altering covariance. While some human populations may have hovered near ZPG under harsher conditions (e.g., violence or food shortage), modernHomo sapienswere equipped with the potential to rapidly colonize new habitats and likely experienced population fluctuations and local extinctions over evolutionary history.

Childbearing and quality of life decisions for women in Taiwan

Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and is predicted to lead to zero population growth. This study aimed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the personal, social and cultural factors influencing Taiwanese women’s motherhood decision making.Semi structured interviews from first time mothers and theoretical sampling were applied to recruit participants from an antenatal clinic in a large metropolitan hospital from Taipei, Taiwan until data saturation was achieved with 34 women. A number of categories were identified from the data with this paper presenting only the category of “childbearing and the quality of life”. Under this category a number of factors were identified that contributed to the decision on whether to have children. This included the couple’s financial circumstances, existing pressure from living expenses, childbearing is costly and having children in a responsibility.Childbearing and quality of life was identified from the data as a crucial factor influencing participant’s decision making choices to have children. This was because women wanted to maintain a certain quality of life and needed to then ascertain how much this would be influenced by having children. It is becoming clear that economic development specifically related to materialistic values, has negatively influenced the value people place on having children. Encouraging a return to traditional Taiwanese values as well as orienting people away from materialistic values maybe a way to turn the fertility rate around.