Human Carrying Capacity summary

   Joel E. Cohen's article discusses the earth's carrying capacity and how we may have already exceeded it. He begins by telling of Easter Island and its near collapse due to its own undermining of their own ecological foundations. This is a good model for what could potentially happen to the world if it's carrying capacity is exceeded and we exhaust our resources. Joel then points out that if an absolute numerical upper limit to the amount of humans the Earth can support does exist, we would never reach it because it lies beyond the point of what humans are willing to tolerate.
   Joel also brings forth the fact that if the natural environment was to be looked at as a sort of control for population it would no longer apply due to the fact that we have modified the environment. This modification comes from the simplest of means such as when we learned to use fire for promoting a certain type of vegetation growth, to the building of massive cities and farms which has substantially modified the natural environment and allowed for greater population growth. With these modifications the environment has become partially a human creation and we must now regulate our population size and rate of growth based on the conditions we are willing to endure.
   This article raises the question for me as to whether population controls should be implemented and if so is it fair for a nation to be in control of its own population, or should this be dealt with in respect to the world as a whole. Would it be fair for one nation to contain a substantially larger population than another, even though the modern world is heavily reliant on trade between nations and the success of partnering nations. I believe that questions such as these need to be considered if we are to remain self sufficient.