Population Issues(2)

 While reflecting on the relationships between humans and crops like rice, or between humans and livestock, I realized something regarding the food chain pyramid I discussed in a previous post (about population issues), so I’d like to add a few thoughts here.

Since humans sit at the very top of the food chain pyramid, one might assume that an explosive rise in the human population would require a proportional increase in the animals and plants supporting them—and since that hasn't happened, population decline seemed inevitable. However, alongside human population growth, the plants (rice, wheat, corn, etc.) and animals (cattle, pigs, chickens, sheep, etc.) that serve as our food have indeed increased thanks to agriculture and livestock farming. Viewed in this light, perhaps the ecosystem pyramid—while heavily distorted with humans at the center—is actually managing to function after a fashion. What do you think?

That said, beyond just food production, human population growth clearly places an excessive burden on the ecosystem in other ways: deforestation for timber, the destruction of nature for land development, and the wholesale capture of fish using massive nets.

So, what is the sustainable human population size that allows us to coexist in balance with the ecosystem?

That is a question beyond my capabilities, so I will leave it to ecologists and other researchers to answer.

Guided by love and compassion.

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