the world’s fisheries, the loss of an estimated 24 billion tons of topsoil each year, and increasing unstable climate, faltering food security, and depletion of the protective ozone layer” (Walker, On Wall Street) will all be effected because of over-population. According to a recent UN Food and Agriculture Report, in order to meet the population demands for the predicted population in 2050, the world will have to increase food production by 75%. This increase in population will have a direct effect on the environment for more land will be needed to support additional population growth. “An estimated 420 million people live today in countries that have less than .07 hectare of cultivated land per person (the bare minimum capable of supplying a vegetation diet for one person without the use of chemicals). That number is projected to increase to 1.04 billion in the year 2025” (UN Food and Agriculture Report). Land elimination and overuse is just one example of environment degradation as population increases. As more people use the land to grow food and found communities, smaller portions of land are left to support large growing numbers of people. One aspect of the land degradation is the overuse and abuse of soil. Soil supports the growth of food with in turn supports the existence of humans. If the soil is destroyed by overuse and overpopulation there will be no foundation for life. Over-population directly leads to world starvation for the land can only feed and house a particular amount of people and if that number is over-exceeded starvation and malnutrition will arise in the world. Contrasting the Neo-Malthusian theory of world starvation is the Neo-Marxist theory which concludes that world hunger and world population are not directly correlated but rather it is the unequal distribution of the world’s food that causes world starvation. Distribution is the key to solving world hunger. It is ...
