Maddy+L

=**The Environmental Consequences of Urban Population Growth in the US and Asia**=

//Hail Malthus!// Maddy Low

Brainstorming- November
An overpopulated world- consequences of increasing population- combating the causes/consequences of increasing global population, natural disasters and population control- combating the causes/consequences of increasing global population by looking to natural and human resources Urbanization Homogenization of culture- globalization and homogenization of culture- globalization and homogenization of culture widening the gap between "leavers" and "takers" Religion- role of religion in 21st century life- future of religion in 21st century life- role of religion in politics in the 21st century Water- water rights, trade and water traffic, future of the world's oceans, future of the world's coastal cities The internet and learning- consequenses of a huge percentage of informed citizens Dying languages/ cultural practices- what gets put in the place of a dead language or culture

Research Proposal- November
I’d like to research the differing environmental consequences of urban population growth between Asia and the United States. A possible thesis for my research could be: Increasing urban population has dire consequences for the global environment. Some parameters for my research would be assessment of consequences of urban population growth, and speculation on the effects of future population growth. Some questions I’d ask to facilitate my research would be: What resources does urban population growth strain? How are these different than the resources used by towns or villages? How does this differ between the US and Asia? Are cities more or less resource-efficient than villages and rural areas? How evenly (or unevenly) is the world’s population distributed? Are there any benefits to increasing urban population?

Possible Sources and Springboards for Thinking
TED Video: [|Steven Johnson on the Web as a City] (1) -Nontraditional [|E.O. Wilson on Saving Life on Earth] (2) -Nontraditional [|Alex Steffen Sees a Sustainable Future] (3) -Nontraditional

[|Population Institute] (4)- Website
 * [|Issues and Facts Sheets] - Nontraditional
 * Article [|Population Growth and Climate Change]
 * Article: [|Consumption of Resources]
 * Article: [|US Policy]
 * [|Global Warming to Hit the Poor Hardest]
 * [|A Demographically Divided World]
 * [|Half of World Population Lives in Cities]
 * [|Immigration and US Population]
 * [|Global Food Supply Nearing Breaking Point]

City Mayors article: [|Preparing to Deal with Urban Population Growth] (5) - Nontraditional (.com) MSN Chart: [|Urban Population Growth] (6) -Nontraditional __Sparing Nature__ by Jeffrey K. McKee (7)- Book __Common Wealth__ by Jeffrey D. Sachs- Book JSTOR: [|The Links between Poverty and the Environment in Urban Areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America] [|Links Between Environment and Poverty-JSTOR1.doc]

JSTOR: [|China's Future Population and Development Challenges (1997)] (8)- Scholarly Article from Database

==== [|China's Future Population and Development Challenges- JSTOR2.doc]====

=
[|economic development vs sustainable societies.doc]=====

[|AC addiction.doc]- non traditional

Website Examining all negative components of urban population growth: http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/issues/urban.asp - website

Urbanization and Land Use (lists some positives for urban population- efficiency etc) http://www.iges.or.jp/en/ltp/pdf/APFED3_EM_doc5.pdf -Substantive from database?

Definitely Substantive from Database: [|New York and Shanghai]

Source Checklist Book- 2 Website (.org, .edu, .gov) -2 Substantive from Database -1 Scholarly from Database- 4 Nontraditional -7

What resources does urban population growth strain?

 * =====Land. Land that was once forest became farmland, which then was paved over due to urban and suburban sprawl=====

How does this differ between the US and Asia? Are cities more or less resource-efficient than villages and rural areas?** - Is using electricity more or less efficient (or harmful) to the environment that burning oil lamps? Is a tractor better for the environment than oxen? - Possible conclusion: rural living contributes less to environmental harm, but cities (high rises, roof gardens) are as efficient as they can be with their limitations when it comes to sewage and transportation. Essentially, the entire world can't live on farms anymore. There is no more room, and with a population this large, resources would be depleted faster (is this statement true?)
 * How are these different than those used by towns and villages?

How evenly is the world's population distributed?
And there any benefits to increasing urban population?
 * Most of current population growth takes place in the world's poorest countries (4)

December 27
I learned from the Population Institute website that the world's population has been growing exponentially for the past 100 years, and that nearly all this growth has taken place in poor and developing areas. It also says that this population growth is what leads to poverty and strains on the world's resources. Knowing that growth in poor areas of the world accounts for most population growth, and that growth in those regions is what strains resources most (because it accounts for nearly all total population growth), I wonder how big an impact population growth in first-world cities like Bangkok, Tokyo, Beijing, New York, and Los Angeles actually has on the environment. I can speculate that there is more fuel use and therefore more waste per capita in the first world's cities, but I'm questioning how it measures up to the total damage due to all population growth, especially compared to rapidly developing but still relatively poor countries like India.

January 3
Today I read Jefrrey K. McKee's //Sparing Nature.// In it, he describes how urban and suburban sprawl diminish the biodiversity of a given area, namely because a growing population //takes up space//. He asserts that because all organisms need to take up some space to survive, human encroachment upon the natural amount of space taken by other organisms diminishes their populations and chances of survival. And we inadvertantly diminish the resources of our area by paving over what once used to be farmland that once was a natural forest. This all leads into his "Sparing Nature Thesis" (pg 10), which simply says that the more human populations expand, the more we push aside other organisms (and extinguish the surroundings they have adapted to). His second thesis is that "the most important conservation measure we can take is to slow or halt the growth of human population (12)." I had a feeling that this would end up as part of the stance of my paper.

=Outline for Abstract= Shortened intro paragraph Support Sections
 * Thesis at/near end, **bold: Urban population growth has dire consequences for the global environment**
 * Evidence of environmental effects of population growth
 * International aspect with relation to national, OR national aspect with relation to international
 * Future consequences of population growth
 * Possible solutions/preventions