Population Growth
(syed tajammul hussain, karachi)
The story of our species is one
of remarkable success. From a starting point in Africa, our ancestors spread
across the planet, harnessing local resources and adapting to the harshest
environments.
While some societies collapsed once they had exhausted local resources, and
other groups migrated to new lands or fought wars over diminishing local
resources, the overall picture was one of continued growth. As technological
advances enabled our ancestors to increase agricultural output, their numbers
grew exponentially.
The lack of open discussion about this topic means most people are not aware
that our high numbers today are such a recent phenomenon. As recently as 1930,
in our parents’ or grandparents’ youth, world population was some two billion
compared with the seven billion living on the planet now.