roblem. With an exponentially increasing population, the problems created by overpopulation grow correspondingly. Population growth is out-spacing growth in agricultural production and it is putting increasing pressure on erodible soils, grazing lands, water, and fuel-wood supplies (Chapman, Peterson, & Smith-Moran, 2000). To ensure population stability not only in the increasingly wealthy third-world areas, but also in the industrialized areas, countries and individuals must work together to achieve controlled population growth. The earth does not contain enough resources to indefinitely sustain the current enormous population growth. For instance, there only is a limited area of arable land and living space available to us. China, home to 1.2 billion people or 1/5 the world's population, is an excellent example of the kinds of problems that arise in an increasingly crowded society. Trying to increase the standard of living of its people, China has industrialized and the economy has grown (Hanson, 1995). This increase in wealth has increased the demand for food in China. The demand is so great that China went from exporting 8 million tons of grain in 1992 to becoming a net importer of 16 million tons of grain in 1994 (China News Digest, 1995). This causes a worldwide grain shortage that raises prices, which in turn puts food out of reach of even more people. In many areas, there is simply not enough food to feed the growing populations. Each day 40,000 children die from malnutrition and its related diseases. 150 million children in the world suffer from poor health due to food shortages (Turbak, 1992). Another resource, which cannot keep up with an increasing population, is water. The supply of fresh water is limited, especially since water tables are falling on every continent as demand exceeds the sustainable yield of aquifers. Also, the growing appetite for seafood has taken oceanic fisheries to their limits and beyon...
