How Many People Can the Earth Support? [Paperback]

Joel E. Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 1996

A compelling new analysis of world population issues and what the numbers tell us. . . .

With the world population now at 5.7 billion, and increasing by about 90 million per year, we have clearly entered a zone where we can see, and may well encounter, limits on the human carrying capacity of the Earth. In this penetrating analysis of one of the most crucial questions of our time, a leading scholar in the field reviews the history of world population growth and appraises what can be known about its future.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The best thing about this book is that it doesn't answer the question asked in its title. At least not directly. Joel Cohen understands that nobody really knows how many people can fit on our planet, thanks to constant technological advances in areas like crop yield. He is rightly skeptical of the Malthusian doomsayers who constantly predict catastrophe, but also shows that current rates of population growth cannot continue forever. A more extended discussion of politics might have helped--China's horrific one-child rule barely comes up--but for an honest treatment of human population dynamics, this is a very good source.

From Publishers Weekly

Biologist Cohen investigates the Earth's human carrying capacity.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (September 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393314952
• ISBN-13: 978-0393314953
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What we know about constraints on population growth, November 21, 2004

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Many People Can the Earth Support? (Paperback)

Obviously, the population of the world has been growing dramatically for the past few centuries. How high can it go? At how high a level can it be maintained? What restrictions are placed by the available resources, such as food and water?

This book asks many of the right questions. And it admits that we don't have all the answers. But it does give some clues about where we may be headed.

Cohen shows that basically, if we want to support people indefinitely on 3500 kilocalories per day from wheat energy, with 9000 cubic kilometers of annual fresh water supply, well, we can support only 5 billion people. We're already beyond that. Right now, we're using up resources at an incredible rate. And while the Earth could support 10 billion people in theory, it is hard to see how it could do that for long in practice.

The author thinks that we'll never get to the absolute maximum that the Earth can support. Most people would all be right on the edge of starvation, and we'd simply be unable and unwilling to stay in that state indefinitely. But I did realize after reading this book that we could stay at about 5 billion people for a very long time if we put our minds to it. Standards of living would not be high, but they would be tolerable for the majority, and the ones who found such a life acceptable would keep having children who found it acceptable.

Those of us who have political views ought to wonder if time is on our side or not. And that is why I think it makes sense to try to imagine what options are available for our mutual future. That's why I think this book is worth reading.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, April 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How Many People Can the Earth Support? (Paperback)

I thought that this book was a very refreshing change from the many other books I have read on the subject of overpopulation. Joel Cohen is very fair and writes without a political agenda. He helped me understand the issues and variables much better than any other author on the subject. However, I sometimes got lost in the statistics and mathematics and found some parts hard to wade through.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fragile World, April 15, 2010

By 

R. Stan Soth "Traveling Retiree" (On The Road) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: How Many People Can the Earth Support? (Paperback)

This is a textbook and it reads like one. However, it is full of well documented (and often frightening) information. I recommend reading only one chapter a week to prevent being overwhelmed.