How Would Population Decline in the United States, in Europe and in Asia Affect the Environment?

 
 How would population decline in the United States, in Europe and in Asia affect the environment?  They may be the same, or they may differ.  Conclude it would be positive or negative and discuss your reasoning.  Cite two outside resources

Most ecologists consider human population growth to be one of the most pressing problems contributing to environmental degradation. Human population growth works in conjunction with excessive consumption to threaten global environmental stability (Southwick 160). It can be argued that a larger world population leads to an increase in human capital, thus making it possible to increase the world's standard of living. However, twenty percent of the world's population, including one third of the world's children are hungry or malnourished; twenty percent have inadequate housing or are homeless; one third have poor health care and insufficient fuel to cook or keep warm; twenty-five percent of adults are illiterate; the depressing statistics continue (Southwick 160). Dr. Julian Simon believes that the world is making progress because people are living longer and more fulfilling lives compared to their forebears, but he ignores the fact that there are also more people living in misery and destitution as well (Southwick 161). The statistics do not support Simon's argument, and they make a strong case for the need to be aware of population growth as an environmental problem.  A clear understanding of the causes and possible solutions is the first step to solving the world population crisis. If everyone understood what stress overpopulation places on the environment, they would hopefully do their part to protect our environment.

Dolan, Edwin G., Ch. 5 from "TANSTAAFL: The Economic Strategy for Environmental Crisis" 1974, pp. 55-72.
Southwick, Charles H., Ch. 15 from "Global Ecology in Human Perspective" Oxford Univ. Press, 1996, pp. 159-182. 

List three examples of cycling of matter and energy in ecosystems.  Why are these examples important to our society and species prosperity?  How do our collective societal actions affect these cycles?  Cite two outside resources.

Food contains nutrients and the needed energy for a person to survive.  When the organism is food, the energy in the first organism is transferred to the second organism which is the eater.  The food chain is a model, which is a simple way of show how energy passes from one organism to another.

 Example:  aquatic plants – insects – bluegill – bass – humans

Green plants make their own food by using sunlight from the non-living environment.

Example:  carbon dioxide and water – photosynthesis – food – oxygen.  The reason these examples are important to our society and species prosperity is because it provides, the physical basis for the productivity and diversity of nature must not be systematically deteriorated.  Overharvesting or direct forms of manipulation (paving, soil erosion, etc.) that deplete nature result in degraded ecosystem services. This gap in services may be experienced as the collapse of a fishery, diminished water quality from upstream deforestation, extreme weather events, or in dozens of other ways.