Optimists versus pessimists: Are there limits to population growth? 

Step 1:

Optimists: They have faith in mankind’s ability to find innovations, such as solar and wind energy, that will increase Earth’s. An optimistic outlook on population growth. Also known as cornucopian.

Pessimist/ Malthusians:  They believe that the population will soon outstrip food supply leading to famine, disease, and social disorder. These ideas came from Thomas Malthus but he did not foresee the improvements in agriculture, hygiene, and medicine. Malthus didn’t anticipate the new advancements. He believed once we reached a certain number they will die.

Neo-Malthusians: Belive that disaster will overtake populations in the world poorest developing countries in the next 50 years due to increase in global warming, shortage of arable land, conflicts with fresh water, declining fish stock, and the spread of AIDS or other diseases. They claim that migration, technology, and new farming lands cannot solve the problems in these countries. Like Malthusians, they believe the Earth has been exceeding its carrying capacity for many years, at the expense of environmental change. They realize the carrying capacity can increase.

Step 2:

The global population growth: box by box video fell into the Optimistic/cornucopian category. He did state that “he isn’t a pessimist or a optimist”, but he discusses new ideas and visualizations with hope for the future because of the new technology and advancements our world has created. Just after 8:20 minutes of the ted talk, he talks about organizations such as UNICEF, Gates Foundation, and aid organizations, that with the help of national governments in the poorest countries, they are helping to create a sustainable population for the world. When he says these things, he is bringing hope to the topic of the overpopulation in our world which is why I would place the video in the Optimistic choice.

The first video; Kenya is a ticking time bomb, I would place in the Neo-Malthusian category. At 7:07 in the video, a man is being interviewed and states that since there has a increase in the population it is driving people out of their home land because of lack of resources but also because of tourist attacks. At the hospital, children and families are being treated for burns and such from attacks, and you can clearly see there is not enough resources for all of them. But they have no hope for the future, they believe that this is how it will be and that they just need to somehow leave or learn to live with what they have like they have done in the school. With a class size of 120 children, the teacher struggles to teach them. At 9:38, the teacher says there is no other way but they way they are doing things because she has to keep them going and wants them to continue their education. But the children are obviously not receiving proper time learning concepts. Compared to North American anyway. Because these people don’t believe there is any hope for a change in the future, they don’t believe that technology, and other sources of advancements can benefit them. This is why I would place them in the Neo-Malthusian category.