Beyond Malthus: Nineteen Dimensions of the Population Challenge [Paperback]

Lester R. Brown (Author), Gary T. Gardner (Author), Brian Halweil (Author), Gary Gardner (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series | Publication Date: April 1, 1999

On the bicentennial of Malthus's legendary essay on the tendency for population to grow more rapidly than the food supply, the question facing the world is not whether population growth will slow, but how.

Human demands are pressing up against more and more of the Earth's limits. This book from the Worldwatch Institute examines the impacts of population growth on global resources and services, including food, fresh water, fisheries, jobs, education, income, and health. Despite the current hype of a "birth dearth" in parts of Europe and Japan, the fact remains that human numbers are projected to increase by over 3 billion by 2050. Rapidly growing nations are likely to outstrip the carrying capacity of their natural support systems. Governments worn down by several decades of rapid population growth often cannot mobilize the resources necessary to cope with emerging threats such as new diseases, food and water shortages, and mass unemployment. Already, in several African nations, hunger, disease, and social disintegration are leading to rising death rates, checking the rapid growth of population. Either nations with surging populations will quickly shift to smaller families or nature will impose its own, less humane limits to growth. As the world enters the new millennium, no challenge is perhaps so urgent as the need to quickly reduce population growth. Pakistan's population is projected to increase from 148 million to 357 million, surpassing that of the United States before 2050. Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, and Swaziland, where over one-fifth of the adult population is infected with HIV, will likely reach population stability shortly after the year 2000, as AIDS-related deaths offset soaring birth rates. A Worldwatch Environmental Alert book. Newsmaking press conference on publication National press and television coverage Illustrated

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, is one of the world’s most widely published authors, with books in more than forty languages. He has been honored with numerous prizes, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the United Nations Environment Prize, and Japan’s Blue Planet Prize. He lives in Washington, DC.

Gary Gardner is director of research at the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, DC. His work focuses on a broad array of research and social change issues that affect the effort to build sustainable societies.

Brian Halweil is a researcher at the Worldwatch Institute.

Product Details

• Paperback: 167 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393319067
• ISBN-13: 978-0393319064
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,238,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, is one of the world's most widely published authors with books in more than 40 languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Critique of Beyond Malthus, April 2, 2003

By 

Cassie (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Malthus: Nineteen Dimensions of the Population Challenge (Paperback)

Recently, the U.N. predicted that another three billion people will be added to our already existing population by the year 2050. We have to wonder if our earth has the resources to support this many people and if it does, what problems will result from increased population. These questions among others are answered in the book Beyond Malthus: Nineteen Dimensions of the Population Challenge, by Lester R. Brown atal. In this book, Brown evaluates 19 different problems with the environment and society that are the result of overpopulation. The book describes how our growing population affects our natural resources as well as our economic stability. Things such as fish, grain, water, forest, and fossil fuels are being consumed in greater amounts per person and their rate of production and availability are diminishing. Brown illustrates how so many of our world's problems are the result of our growing population and he presents a solution that will require an all out effort by every country.
In one chapter, Brown explains how farmers struggle with the lack of cropland and decreasing amounts of irrigation water to help reverse the decline of grain production. This illustrates how many problems are linked to one another. It takes water to produce grain; therefore if there is a water scarcity, there is a food scarcity. The diminishing cropland, lack of water, and lack of grain production can all be traced back to overpopulation and over consumption.
Not only are our natural resources depleting due to overpopulation, but our social and economical needs are also at risk. As the population grows, the need for education, housing, and jobs grows. In many countries there are not enough jobs to support everyone in society, leaving many homeless and unemployed. Poverty is therefore linked to population growth. In many overpopulated countries, farmland was once a key source for jobs, but the decline in farmland has virtually eliminated this solution.
In his conclusion, Brown says that the problems from population growth are showing up right now. Problems that used to be routinely managed by the government are now considered crises. He goes on to describe three stages of demographic transition. Stage one is when the birth and death rates of a country cancel each other out. Stage two is when death rates go down as countries become more industrialized and birth rates stay high. Stage three is when birth rates and death rates balance, but at low levels. Brown claims that most countries are in stages two or three; Stage three being demographic stability. Brown suggests that countries in stage two take efforts to lower fertility rates so that they can reach stage three. If no, they will fall back into stage one and have to face many environmental and economical problems. In order to do this there are two things that must be done. First, national carrying capacities must be assessed to show governments the magnitude of the problem. Governments then need to emphasize the empowerment of women, strengthening of health care, and importance of family planning. Government must also take to account the carrying capacity of their natural resources. Secondly, we must form a backbone of a national population policy by offering the means to reduce fertility rates and stabilize population. This means working to increase availability and awareness of contraception and improve the literacy rates among other things.
I think that Brown's solution to the problem of increasing population is very good. People need to understand that if they cannot afford to have children then they shouldn't be having them. People in poor countries often have children simply so they can work and raise more money for the family. This should not be the reason that women are having children. I think that improved education would help this situation and ultimately help the family as a whole by increasing quality of life. I also believe that contraception should be heavily emphasized by not only the government, but also in existing households. This would reduce the amount of unwanted pregnancies thus decreasing the population. Brown's book opened my eyes to the connection between many of our world's problems and made me realize that our increasing population is to blame for most of them. It made me second-guess my intensions of having more than one child in the future.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review on "Beyond Malthus", May 19, 2003

By 

tyler laudon - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Malthus: Nineteen Dimensions of the Population Challenge (Paperback)

This book is a great book that brings to light some of the problems the world currently faces. During the last half century the world population has more then doubled, climbing from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 5.9 billion in 1998. Malthus foresaw food shortages and famine because of the massive increase in population growth. The rise in the worldwide population accompanied with consumption is pushing the planets beyond its natural limits.

Throughout this book nineteen main environmental issues are addressed. I decided to focus on three main topics, that I feel are the most important; they are fresh water, biodiversity, and waste. Evidence of water stress is seen all over the world. According to Brown there will be scarcely one fourth as much fresh water per person in 2050 as there was in 1950. Worldwide, some 70 percent of the water pumped from underground wells or diverted from rivers is used for irragation, 20 percent is used for industrial purposes, and 10 percent for residental use. As population keeps growing more water is being diverted to urban areas, this is the same water that is usually used for irrigation. The main point being addressed is that the shortage of water means the decrease in food being produced.

The next topic covered in the book is biodiversity. As human populations keep growing other species are affected, some to the point of extinction. According to Brown the major source of species loss is habitat alteration, invasion by exotic species, pollution, and over hunting. As populations keep growing more people are forced into undeveloped areas that our host to many different species. This is where over hunting comes into play. People have to eat, or make a living selling skins or other animal parts. This problem is the greatest in underdeveloped countries where there are little or no conservation laws.

The last topic addressed is waste control. With a constant increase in population, the flow of waste products into landfills and waterways is increasing. Municipal waste is a major source of this problem. On average 824 million tons of waste are produced in developing countries each year. With an increase in population growth this number will rise to 1.4 billion in 2050. It is suggested that government agencies have to step in order to regulate this problem. Finding new ways to dispose of waste have to be discovered in order for the world to live with less disease.

Overall I felt this book was very informative about some of the problems of the world. I wish there were more solutions for what needs to be done in order to solve these problems. I think more education needs to be conducted in developing countries to reduce birth rates. According to Brown the current fertility rate in Pakistan is six children per woman and nearly seven in Ethiopia. These numbers have to be lowered in order for these countries to sustain a reasonable standard of living.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Population Explosion, March 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Beyond Malthus: Nineteen Dimensions of the Population Challenge (Paperback)

Population Explosion

Beyond Malthus, written by Lester R. Brown, Gary Gardner, and Brian Halweil focuses on the problems that we are going to have to deal with as the human population continues to grow. Brown, Gardner, and Halweil break down the problem of population growth and how it relates to the industrialized and the developing world. The authors of the book all work for the Worldwatch Institute. The Worldwatch Institute is a nonprofit organization that focuses on environmental sustainability.
Brown, Gardner, and Halweil identify many problems that we are facing and are going to face as the world's population increases. They identify many problems throughout the book by dedicating chapters to the problems. They identify problems ranging from issues related to agriculture and food production, environmental issues such as water problems, forestry issues and climate change, and issues including health, housing, economy, and education. The main idea behind these problems is to realize that all of these problems are connected.
During each of the chapters Brown, Gardner, and Halweil illustrate how industrialized countries and developing countries are affected by these problems. The developing countries are the places that are seeing the most population growth; therefore, they are experiencing more difficulties. Industrialized countries are not seeing the population growth that the developing countries are experiencing, in fact some industrialized nations are seeing stabilized or declining populations. These trends are a result of education and technology levels. This does not mean that industrialized nations are exempt from the problems of population growth. Industrial nations consume more resources than developing nations so they are often the ones that are depleting the world's resources. The main point is that every country has a responsibility to control its consumption.
I thought that this was book was informational. The authors clearly identify and explain the problems of over population very well. I liked how they broke the issues into there own individual chapters. I also liked how each chapter explained how the problem related to industrialized nations and developing nations and then connected them to show how it's all related. The book also contains many graphs and charts, which are very useful to understanding the problems and puts them into scale. Another feature of the book that I thought was useful to identifying and understanding the problems was that each chapter had examples how the problem is already affecting us. Even though I think the book was well written and explained the facts very well after a few chapters I was having trouble keeping interest. The book identifies so many problems in the same format that it gets repetitive.