Demography and the Anthropocene

verfasst von: Larry D. Barnett

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

Environmentalists devote little attention at the moment to the size and growth of the human population. To counter this neglect, the monograph (i) includes original graphs showing population size and growth since 1920 in the world as a whole and the United States; (ii) assembles evidence tying the increasing number of people to ecosystem deterioration and its societal consequences; and (iii) analyzes sample-survey data to ascertain whether the current disregard of population pressures by U.S. environmentalists reflects the thinking of Americans generally. However, even if a nation took steps primarily intended to lower childbearing and immigration, the findings of social science research indicate that the steps would not have a substantial, lasting impact. The discussion, which suggests an indirect way by which government may reduce fertility, underlines for environmental scholars the importance of studying their subject in a multidisciplinary, collaborative setting.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. The Population Factor

Abstract

The above passage was penned in the early 1970s, but human overpopulation is an idea with a very long history—indeed, the idea appears in works written during antiquity.

Larry D. Barnett

Chapter 2. An Empirical Study of Americans’ Attitudes

Abstract

I next investigate a possible reason that environmentalists (or at least U.S. environmentalists) currently lack interest in the increasing size of the human population and its impact on nature. Specifically, I explore whether, at the present time, Americans generally exhibit little or no sensitivity to the effect that population growth has on the ecosystem of the planet. If this is the case, environmentalists will simply be manifesting the attitudes of the public as a whole. A study that used data gathered in 1969 from a nationwide sample of U.S. adults found that attitudes toward the environment were no more than modestly related to attitudes toward population increase.

Larry D. Barnett

Chapter 3. Environmentalism and Interdisciplinarity

Abstract

Although among Americans sensitivity to the environment is a predictor of sensitivity to human population growth, it is an imperfect predictor, a commitment to the environment does not automatically produce are cognition that population growth has negative environmental effects. Indeed, in the two G.S.S. samples that provided the data for the study in Chap. 2, only six out of ten White men, White women, Black men who were concerned with the environment were also concerned with population growth. Given the absence of a close connection between the two concerns, ecosystem deterioration will often not be traced to, will often not be seen as a function of, the mounting number of human beings. Among Americans, the situation should perhaps not be surprising because environmental concepts, movements in the United States have historically been insular, had an arrow focus.

Larry D. Barnett

Backmatter

Titel: Demography and the Anthropocene
verfasst von: Larry D. Barnett
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-69428-9
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-69427-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69428-9