Population Seven Billion Essay Example for Free

Population Seven Billion Essay There will soon be seven billion people on the planet. By 2045, the global population is projected to reach nine billion. Can the planet take the strain? The first attempt to estimate the human population may have been carried out by Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek in the 17th century. Based on his calculations, Leeuwenhoek concluded triumphantly, there could not be more than 13.385 billion people on Earth a small number indeed compared with the 150 billion sperm cells of a single codfish. Historians now estimate that in Leeuwenhoek’s day, there were only half a billion or so humans on Earth. After rising very slowly for millennia, the number was just starting to take off. A century and a half later, when another scientist reported the discovery of human egg cells, the world’s population had doubled to more than a billion. A century after that, around 1930, it had doubled again to two billion. The acceleration since then has been astounding. Before the 20th century, no human had lived through a doubling of the human population, but there are people alive today who have seen it triple. According to the U.N. Population Division, by the end of 2011, there will be seven billion of us. The population explosion, though it is slowing, is far from over. Not only are people living longer, but so many women across the world are now in their childbearing years 1.8 billion that the global population will keep growing for another few decades at least, even though each woman is having fewer children than she would have had a generation ago. U.N. demographers project that the population may reach nine billion by the year 2045. The eventual tally will depend on the choices individual couples make when they engage in that most intimate of human acts, the one Leeuwenhoek interrupted so carelessly for the sake of science. With the population still growing by about 80 million each year, it is hard not to be alarmed. Right now on Earth, water tables are falling, soil is eroding, glaciers are melting, and fish stocks are vanishing. If developing countries follow the path blazed by wealthy countries such as clearing  forests, burning coal and oil, scattering fertilizers and pesticides, they too will be stepping hard on the planet’s natural resources. How exactly is this going to work? At certain time periods in history, a high fertility rate was important. In 18th-century Europe or early 20th-century Asia, when the average woman had six children, she was doing what it took to replace herself and her mate, because most of those children never reached adulthood. When child mortality declines, couples eventually have fewer children but that transition usually takes a generation at the very least. Today in developed countries, an average of 2.1 births per woman would maintain a steady population; in the developing world, â€Å"replacement fertility† is somewhat higher. In the time it takes for the birth-rate to settle into that new balance with the death rate, population explodes. The good news is high fertility rates currently only occur in around 16 per cent of the world’s population and mostly in Africa, according to Hania Zlotnik, director of the UN Population Division. In most of the world, however, family size has shrunk dramatically. The UN projects that the world will reach replacement fertility by 2030. â€Å"The population as a whole is on a path toward non-explosion which is good news,† Zlotnik says. The bad news is 2030 is two decades away and the largest generation of adolescents in history will then be entering their childbearing years. Even if each of those women has only two children, population will coast upward under its own momentum for another quarter of a century. One thing is certain: close to one in six of them will live in India. The goal in India should not be reducing fertility or population, Almas Ali of the Population Foundation told me when I spoke to him a few days later. â€Å"The goal should be to make the villages liveable,† he said. â€Å"Whenever we talk of population in India, even today, what comes to our mind is the increasing numbers and these numbers are looked at with fright. This phobia has penetrated the mind-set so much that all the focus is on reducing the number.† The Annual meeting of the Population Association of America (PAA) is one of the premier gatherings of the world’s demographers. Last April the  global population explosion was not on the agenda. â€Å"The problem has become a bit passà ©,† Hervà © Le Bras says. Demographers are generally confident that by the second half of this century we will be ending one unique era in history the population explosion and entering another, in which population will level out or even fall. From this, one can also draw a different conclusion, that fixating on population numbers is not the best way to confront the future. The number of people does matter, of course, but how people consume resources matters a lot more. The central challenge for the future of people and the planet is how to raise more of us out of poverty while reducing the impact each of us has on the planet.

Joyces Araby versus Updikes A & P Essay -- James Joyce John Updike

Joyce's "Araby" and Updike's "A & P": A Culture Hostile to Romance "Araby" by James Joyce and "A & P" by John Updike are two stories which, in spite of their many differences, have much in common. In both of these initiation stories, the protagonists move from one stage of life to another and encounter disillusionment along the way. Looking back upon his boyhood in Irish Catholic Dublin in the early 1900's, the narrator of "Araby"gives an account of his first failed love. Captivated by Mangan's older sister, the boy promises to bring her a gift from a bazaar that wears the mystical name of Araby. Sammy, a nineteen-year-old cashier at the local A & P in an unnamed coastal town north of Boston, narrates "A & P." Like Joyce's boy, Sammy also attempts to win the attention of a beautiful girl by making a chivalric gesture. In both cases, romance gives way to reality, and conflict occurs when the protagonist finds himself in discord with the values of the society in which he lives. Joyce's "Araby" and Updike's "A & P" are initiation stories in which the a dolescent protagonist comes into conflict with his culture. Both protagonists live in restrictive cultures. The narrator of "Araby" portrays the Dublin that he grew up in as grim and oppressed by Catholicism. He begins his story with a description of North Richmond Street, where the somber houses wear "brown imperturbable faces" and seem "conscious of the decent lives within them" (Joyce 728). In this description, Joyce links decency and a stifled life together. Filled with "cold empty gloomy rooms," the house where the boy resides reminds the reader of a tomb (729). A priest died in the back drawing room, and "air, musty from having been long enclosed," is associated with books... ...his infatuation and illusions? Chivalry has failed, both for Joyce's boy and for Sammy. Their efforts seem wasted, for their gallant gestures go unseen. However, Sammy's story leaves the reader hopeful. His fate has not yet been decided. Sammy loses his job but gains the title of "unsuspected hero" (737). He claims his right to be an individual in a puritanical, conservative, and uncompromising culture. In Joyce's "Araby" and Updike's "A & P," two boys replace their ideas of chivalry with modern-life realism and inch their way closer to manhood. Works Cited Joyce, James. "Araby." Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Eds. John Clifford and John Schilb. Boston: Bedford, 1999. 728-32. Updike, John. "A & P." Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Eds. John Clifford and John Schilb. Boston: Bedford, 1999. 733-37.

King Philip’s War Essay

King Philip’s War lasted from 1675 to 1676. It was the bloodiest conflict between American colonists and Indians in the 17th century New England. By 1600, colonial settlers no longer depended on the Indians for survival; therefore they pushed into Indian Territory in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. To protect their lands, the Wampanoag chief, King Philip, also known as Metacom organized a federation of tribes, which in 1675 destroyed several frontier settlements. King Philip’s War was the beginning of the development of a greater American identity; the conflicts suffered by the colonists gave them a distinct identity than that of the subjects of the English crown. The first Thanksgiving feast took place in 1621. This celebration marked the partnership of the Native Americans and the colonists. That year, Massasoit signed a treaty with the Pilgrim governor promising to give aid against enemies; they maintained 40 years of peace. However after Massasoit died in 1661, this peace began to deteriorate. The population of the colonial settlers grew rapidly and soon they outnumbered the Indians. Therefore, Europeans and the Indians frequently fought overland. When Metacom became sachem he was amid Plymouth Colony’s demands for land. He was humiliated several times, and forced to admit guilt and surrender. He then soon became angry at the colonists because they forced him not to sell Wampanoag without seeking their council first. Benjamin Church is considered the father of  American ranging. He was the captain of the first  Ranger force in America. Church was commissioned by the Governor of the  Plymouth Colony  Josiah Winslow  to form the first ranger company for  King Philip’s War. He played a unique and crucial role in King Philip’s War because he developed friendship with Native Americans and worked to understand and learn from those who lived near his frontier home. Church designed his force primarily to emulate Indian patterns of war. Toward this end, he endeavored to learn to fight like Indians from Indians. Philip and his followers went to New York hoping to find recruit and supplies. However Edward Andros, the governor of New York feared that the war might spread to his colony, therefore, he formed allies with the Mohawks who were enemies of Wampanoag. The Mohawks attacked Philip’s forces, and he returned to the New England colonies. On Aug. 12, 1676, a Wampanoag informer named Alderman killed King Philip. Philip was beheaded and quartered, and his head was displayed on a pole in Plymouth for more than 20 years.

Death Of A Salesman Act 1 - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 621 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/05/31 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Death Of A Salesman Essay Did you like this example? Willy heard flute music and remembered his dad. His dad was a salesman and a flute-maker. Willy was 63 and a salesman who traveled to multiple places. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Death Of A Salesman Act 1" essay for you Create order On a Monday Afternoon, Willy Loman came home from his business trip super early. He was tired. Linda, Willyrs wife, woke up and greeted him. Willy didnt want to talk about why he came home early. Linda irritated him by asking him what happened repeatedly. She asked if he was in a car accident. He became irritated and said that he didnt have one. He said he kept going into a trance when he was driving. He said that he opened his carrs windshield to look at nature. He looked at the flowers, the trees, the leaves on the ground, he felt the cozy air, and started daydreaming. He then lost focus on driving. Linda begged him to ask Howard Wagner, his boss, for a job where he doesnt have to travel, in New York. Linda and Willy talked about Happy and Biff, Linda and Willyrs sons. They were sleeping. Biff came from Texas. Willy judged Biff for doing manual labor on horse ranches and farms in the West because he was upset with him. He called him lazy and a bum. He then said that Biff wasnt lazy. Biff told happy that he wished he didnt have a fight with his dad. Happy wanted to know what Biff wanted to do with his life. Biff told happy that he wasnt happy at all. He also told him that he hates the business industry and competition. He thinks that farm work is better. Happy felt lonely because he didnt have a woman and a sufficient job. Happy and Biff imagined emigrating to the West to have a cattle and ranch and working in the sun. Biff gave up his desire for wealth. Happy couldnt give up his desire for money. Biff came home because he felt like he needed direction because he doesnt understand what he wants to do in life. He tried to be a shipping clerk and a salesman but it didnt work out because he doesnt want to be in business. Happy felt guilty because he slept with his buddies fiances and girlfriends. He took bribes from producers to display their goods. Biff chose to ask Bill Oliver, his ex-employer, for money to begin building a ranch. Biff thought that Bill blamed him for stealing basketballs but Happy told him that he will like him. His sons thought that he had another car accident because he was making rumbling noises, so they woke up. Willy remembered Happy and Biff, when they were younger, washing his car and playing football. Willy said that he is opening more huge business than Charleyrs. Charley isnt respected like Willy is. Bernard, Charleyrs son, came to study with Biff for math. Biff isnt passing math. Willy commanded Biff to study for math. Biff didnt want to. He distracted Willy. He showed Willy the badge for the University of Virginia on his shoes. It impressed Willy. Bernard said that the shoes dont mean that Biff is going to graduate. Bernard left. Willy asked Biff if Bernard was respected. Happy and Biff said that he was respected but not that respected. Willy told Linda he made $1200 by selling goods. Linda questioned him. He only made $200. Willy said that he couldnt make money because people did not respect him. Willy said that he jokes and talks a lot. Willy said that Charley is respected because he doesnt talk a lot. Willy thinks that people think that he is super fat. Linda told him that he was handsome. Willy told her he missed her a lot when he was on trips.