Overpopulation Essay -- essays research papers

Overpopulation The Book of Genesis tells the story of creation of man. God said to man, "be fruitful and increase in numbers; fill the earth and subdue it." Prior to the nineteenth century, it was believed that God would provide for those who came into the world (Day 101). But, in 1798, this view was shaken by Thomas Malthus' An Essay on the Principle of Population, in which he concluded that while population increases geometrically, agricultural production only increases arithmetically. Current evidence shows that this theory may not be far from the truth. The world population reached 6 billion on October 12, 1999, and is expected to reach 9.3 billion by 2050! The impact of population growth is already felt by a majority of nations. The U.S. population has increased by 78% since 1950. Growing at 3,000,000 per year, U.S. population is expected to approach half a billion people in 50 years. A number of factors drive this growth. At the most basic level, it is because far more people are bo rn each year than die. Advances in nutrition and health care have increased survival rates and longevity for much of the world, and shifted the balance between births and deaths. The demands of increasing population magnify demands for natural resources, clean air and water, as well as access to wilderness areas. In the future, when there are not enough resources to go around, we will see significant scarcity, and a backlash of poverty. A number of problems lie behind scarcity and poverty. Ultimately, our own numbers, and the lifestyles many of us choose to live, drive all the critical issues we confront. Left unchecked, the combination of population growth and consumption- along with increasing inequity between rich and poor individuals and nations-will soon threaten not only the well-being, but even the lives of a majority of people on this planet. When population levels reach a critical threshold, we then see both a decline in the resource base, and damage to the environment, which supplies all those resources. These trends reinforce each other - the damaged environment provides fewer resources, and the shortage of resources causes us to further damage the environment. World energy needs are projected to double in the next several decades, but no credible geologist foresees a doubling of world oil production, which is projected to peak within the next few dec... ...many enjoy today will no longer be attainable. Fortunately a future of scarcity, inequity, and conflict is not inevitable. There are steps to be taken to stabilize population such as controlling fertility. Families can currently choose to have fewer children in industrialized countries. This can also be made possible for developing countries by providing family planning, and reproductive health care. If every couple in the world could reliably and affordably choose the number and spacing of their children, world population growth would slow by nearly twenty percent almost immediately. Protection and enhancement of human rights is necessary so that all people have access to the essentials of a decent life. Improving people's social health and economic well being can move them out of poverty, and away from needing more children for survival. Solving the problem of population growth will also help solve the environmental, economic and social problems the world confronts. "The c hoices we make in the next few decades about our own numbers and lifestyles will determine whether the world of the 21st century will be one of hope and opportunity, or of scarcity and destruction."

Foundation’s Edge PROLOGUE

The first Galactic Empire was falling. It had been decaying and breaking down for centuries and only one man fully realized that fact. He was Hari Seldom the last great scientist of the First Empire, and it was he who perfected psychohistory – the science of human behavior reduced to mathematical equations. The individual human being is unpredictable, but the reactions of human mobs, Seldon found, could be treated statistically. The larger the mob, the greater the accuracy that could be achieved. And the size of the human masses that Seldon worked with was no less than the population of all the inhabited millions of worlds of the Galaxy. Seldon's equations told him that, left to itself, the Empire would fall and that. thirty thousand years of human misery and agony would elapse before a Second Empire would arise from the ruins. And yet, if one could adjust some of the conditions that existed, that Interregnum could be decreased to a single millennium – just one thousand years. It was to insure this that Seldon set up two colonies of scientists that he called â€Å"Foundations.† With deliberate intention, he set them up â€Å"at opposite ends of the Galaxy.† The First Foundation, which centered on physical science, was set up in the fuel daylight of publicity. The existence of the other, the Second Foundation, a world of psychohistorical and â€Å"mentalic† scientists, was drowned in silence. In The Foundation Trilogy, the story of the first four centuries of the Interregnum is told. The First Foundation (commonly known as simply â€Å"The Foundation,† since the existence of another was unknown to almost all) began as a small community lost in the emptiness of the Outer Periphery of the Galaxy. Periodically it faced a crisis in which the variables of human intercourse – and of the social and economic currents of the time – constricted about it. Its freedom to move lay along only one certain line and when it moved in that direction a new horizon of development opened before it. All had been planned by Hari Seldon, long dead now. The First Foundation with its superior science, took over the barbarized planets that surrounded it. It faced the anarchic warlords who broke away frog, a dying, empire and beat them. It faced the remnant of the Empire itself under its last strong Emperor and its last strong general – and beat it. It seemed as though the â€Å"Seldon Plan† was going through smoothly and that nothing would prevent the Second Empire from being established or, time – and with a minimum of intermediate devastation. But psychohistory is a statistical science. Always there is a small chance that something will go wrong, and something did – something which Hari Seldon could not have foreseen. One man, called the Mule, appeared atom nowhere He had mental powers in a Galaxy that lacked them. He could mold men's emotions and shape their minds so that his bitterest opponents were made into his devoted servants. Aries could not, would not, fight him. The First Foundation fell and Seldon's P1an seemed to lie in ruins. There was left mysterious Second Foundation, which had been caught unprepared by the sudden appearance of the Mule, but which was now slowly working out a counterattack. Its great defense was the fact of its unknown location. The Mule sought it in order to make his conquest of the Galaxy complete. The faithful of what was left of the First Foundation sought it to obtain help. Neither found it. The Mule was stopped first by the action of a woman, Bayta Darell and that bought enough time for the Second Foundation to organize the proper action and, with that, to stop the Mule permenently. Slowly they prepared to reinstate the Seldon Plan. But, in a way, the cover of the Second Foundation was gone. The First Foundation knew of the second's existence, and the First did not want a future in which they, were overseen by the mentalists. The First Foundation was the superior in physical force, while the Second Foundation was hampered not only by that fact, but by being faced by a double task: it had not only to stop the First Foundation but had also to regain its anonymity. This the Second Foundation, under its greatest â€Å"First Speaker,† Preem salver, manages to do. The First Foundation was allowed to seem to win, to seems to defeat the Second Foundation, and it moved on to greater and greater strength in the Galaxy, totally ignorant that the Second Foundation still existed. It is now four hundred and ninety-eight years after the First Foundation had come into existence. It is at the peak of its strength, but one man does not accept appearances –

The Complete Persepolis By Marjane Satrapi Essay - 2678 Words

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi The Veil The reader is introduced to Marjane at 10 in Iran, 1980. She goes to school and wears a veil, just like everyone else. The women in Iran don’t want to wear a veil The new regime in Iran made it mandatory for women to wear a veil. They also segregated the schools between girls and boys Marjane says she wants to be a prophet The school thinks it’s weird that she wants to be a prophet, so they call her parents Even though she wants to be a prophet, she tells her parents she wants to be a doctor The Bicycle The regime burned down a movie theater with a bunch of people in it Marjane wants to participate in the protest that’s being organized against the police, but her parents won’t let her go That night, she talks to God, but he doesn’t respond. The Water Cell Marjane’s parents go to protest demonstrations against the king everyday Marjane has trouble understanding this because her textbook says that God chose the king Her dad tells her how the king actually came to power: the British put him there to try and take control of Iran’s oil The ruler that was kicked out was her grandfather, who was a prince Her grandfather briefly served as prime minister, but he opposed the new regime and was sent to prison Prison was terrible. One night, he was in a water filled cell for hours That night, Marjane stayed in the bath for a long time to try and understand what her grandfather went through Persepolis Marjane’s grandmother comesShow MoreRelatedThe Complete Persepolis By Marjane Satrapi Essay2019 Words   |  9 Pageslargely affected the views of Iranians by other nations. The graphic novel, The Complete Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi (Satrapi, 2003), conveys many of these events and changes through the eyes of a child growing up in the 1980s in Iran. Satrapi’s main purpose for this book is to describe how the Iranian government was corrupt, causing foreign nations to have a tainted view of all Iranian citizens. The Complete Persepolis does so by presenting major events and changes in a manner that is directedRead MoreThe Complete Persepolis By Marjane Satrapi2268 Words   |  10 Pages Review of Literature While I will pull from other sources, the main focus of this paper will be The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Throughout this graphic novel, Satrapi tells her life story and what it was like growing up in Iran. In the opening illustrations, she describes her childhood and her transition from a secular school to one that was religious and separated by gender. At this time it had become law for a woman to wear the veil, or head scarf when in public. Iran transitionedRead MoreThe Complete Persepolis By Marjane Satrapi1552 Words   |  7 PagesThroughout The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi the idea of inequality is introduced through several examples. Marjane Satrapi uses the title to comment on inequality in all aspects of Marjane’s life, including gender, religious, economic, and racial status. Although there are several forms of inequality that the title attempts to highlight within the story, it focuses primarily on the issues of gender inequality by compa ring the issues that Marjane faces due to her gender and comparing itRead MoreThe Complete Persepolis By Marjane Satrapi903 Words   |  4 Pages In The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the genre choice of the graphic novel vividly portrays the life-experience that Satrapi herself gone through as a youth growing up in Iran back in the 1980s. Satrapi utilizes a unique drawing style to emphasize the influence that the Islamic Republic has brought to her. The recurring action of teachers implanting Islamic values in children throughout Marjane’s education in Iran is demonstrated through a set of related images, which implicitlyRead MoreThe Complete Persepolis By Marjane Satrapi1017 Words   |  5 PagesThis pepper identifies and analyses some of the highlights found in the culture narrative of a visual comic memoir titled â€Å"The Complete Persepolis† by Marjane Satrapi, and a culture storyline, â€Å"Code White† by Debra Anderson. Starting with â€Å"The Complete Persepolis† the book is about Satrapi’s experience as she transitions from a young woman into adulthood in Rasht, Ira n and Vienna, Australia during and after the Islamic and culture revolution between the periods of 1979-1995. 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For example, the chapter â€Å"The Key† describes how plastic keys were handed to the young soldiers as their way to heaven when they died. This is what they were told at least. The book starts when Marji is 10 years old, which isRead MoreThe Complete Persepolis Marjane Satrapi Analysis1072 Words   |  5 PagesIn her graphic novel â€Å"The Complete Persepolis,† Marjane Satrapi explores different identities and works through troubling hardships as she comes closer to who she truly is as an educated Iranian woman. Satrapi expresses the many trials and tribulations she endured while living in and out of Iran during parts of the Islamic Revolution, all whilst trying to find her identity as a child, tee nager, and adult. Although she loses herself along the way, she always finds her true identity and self-worthRead MoreMarjane Satrapi s Story Of The Complete Persepolis Essay1022 Words   |  5 Pagesan unfriendly world. This is not a fictitious story. This is an actual event that happened to the author of The Complete Persepolis. Marjane Satrapi, the author of The Complete Persepolis, grew up during the 1979 Revolution. This event changed many people’s lives, either it was for the better or worse is hard to say. Nevertheless, it influenced Satrapi s whole life. In the book, Satrapi expresses her childhood memories through her eyes as a child. Her experiences and ancestry can be clearly shownRead MoreThe Complete Persepolis By Marjane Satrapi And I Am Nujood1495 Words   |  6 Pagesthe patriotism that the country gives. Having these ideals one can see that some Americans are even question their own culture, and are constantly changing it due to the surge of countercultures and trend setters. From the texts The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and I Am Nujood by Nujood Ali one can observe how western culture has affected people who are not raised within Iranian and Yemini cultures, and it grants a glimpse into other cultures and their beliefs. Despite the culture shock in