Lesson: Overpopulation

Population Growth and Overpopulation:

1. Get into 4-6 teams to play Population Pop-Quiz.

2. Watch NYTimes: The Unrealized Horrors of Population Explosion and discuss.

3. Go to the NYTimes page "Can the Planet Support 10 Billion People?" - Everyone read
the introduction. Then, half of the class read first three debaters on left hand side of page,
and other half read last three. These are short pieces that should not take you very long. 

4. Can the planet support 10-11 billion people?? Discuss: 

·   diet/ food production (example: in vitro meat ) - Do we need to consume less meat?
Is it safe to use GMOs and other technologies to increase crop yields?

·   energy consumption - What types of energy and how much is reasonable to use?

·   reducing fertility - most effective and humane methods?

·   education - Why is this so important?

·   Africa - Why are most countries in African outpacing the rest of the world in pop.
growth?

·   conservation - How important is it to preserve out natural environment?

·   technology - To what extent can we rely on it to solve these and future problems? 

5. Go to Global Footprint Calculator .and complete the footprint calculator for yourself. If do
not get to do this in class, find out the following information tonight so that you can complete
it tomorrow: How many square feet is your house? How much does your family spend per
month on electricity and gas?

6. Go to NOVA's "Human Numbers Through Time" and launch the interactive map. Also check
out the graph there. Why do you think the world population seems to be growing more quickly
now than 200 years ago? What do you think the projection for 2050 is based on? What are the
implications of such growth? What concerns does it raise?  

7. Quickly skim the UN's revised population projection for 2100. .What does this study tell you
about future population growth, its causes, and which countries and regions are growing fastest?