Image: World Population Curve: WORLD POPULATION OVER THE LAST 12,000 years. Hominid population remained very low until the Neolithic and began to rise around 4,000 BCE (Before the common era). It doubled by 2000 BCE and again around he year 9. From that point on it began to rise more dramatically with short term declines during the Bubonic Plague. Between 1700-2020 human population skyrocketed from around 600 million to 7.7 Billion in a burst of exponential growth.
As we reviewed in Module 7, global population increase has been a major concern for the last hundred years. Human population increase is very well documented and shows an unprecedented pattern, as the video below illustrates.     
https://youtu.be/73X8R9NrX3w
When we contemplate the use of the world’s resources, it becomes obvious that controlling population increase should be a priority. However, governmental efforts to control population have many moral and practical limitations. Efforts in India and China had mixed and controversial results. This leaves individuals to make decisions that impact world populations. Should we worry about this? In contrast to Thomas Malthus (and neo-Malthusian thinkers), Jørgen Randers in the video below thinks that we do not have to worry so much because populations will drop because of women’s opportunities and policies will help us manage changing demographics. His argument relies heavily on government policies, such as those employed in Norway where he lives.After mulling over the concepts in these videos and this week’s course materials, start a thread on how you view population increase and how to manage population at sustainable levels. Consider these questions:
Is overpopulation a major problem?How can we feed our increasing population and maintain lifestyles that promote well being?How can we promote the education of women, which is shown to be the single best way to lower the birth rate?Be sure to include factual information from course resources and to use the correct terminology as found in this week’s module and readings. You can do research as well if you like as long as 1) it is cited, and 2) you use reliable sources