Against the idealism of carrying capacity

A population model assumes that the use of resources is equal to all of the individuals. The think here is that we are talking about “individuals” not hard numbers. They have different needs and life conditions. That’s why we cannot take the entire population of the world as in uniform conditions in order to establish the carrying capacity (K)
The individual/population resource use is a dynamic principle. We also must we aware that resources vary with time and space. Some of this variations are given by:

• MEDCs and LEDCs
• Urban vs. rural
• Young communities vs. older communities

However we need to manage carrying capacity to our advantage.
It might be trough pollution control
POLLUTION MANAGEMET
Natural income –> Human activity –> wastes –>  pollution
Pollution:the addition of a substance of agent to the environment by human activity at a rate grater that that at which it can be rendered harmless by the environment.
Major sources of pollution

• Combustion
• Domestic waste
• Industrial waste
• Agricultural waste

Pollution by noise, by heat.
Sources:

• Point source
• Non-point source

Detection and monitoring

• Directly. measure with a particular variable to refer an specific pollution factor. (CO2 presence in the atmosphere)
• Indirectly. Impact. uses a variable that depends on a specific factor. (e.g. acid rain: a wide range of possibilities to measure the impact; salinity on the atmosphere)

Pollution indicators

• Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD): amount of dissolved oxygen required to break down the organic material in a water volume through anaerobic or aerobic activity
• Indicator species (biotic index 1-10) through invertebrates

Three-level model of pollution management.
replace, regulate and restore
Waste management

Population growth and food shortages.

Thomas Malthus and Ester Boserup theories
Both theories relate food supply with population size, based on the agricultural methods used for food production.
Malthus Theory:

• Published in “The Principle of Population” in 1798
  
• It presents an approach focusing in the population size being determined by the availability of food
  
• Population growth follows a geometric progression and food growth follows an arithmetic one.
  
• When food supply is scarce, population size will adjust to it.
  
• Food production incensement is a slow and difficult process.
  
• It states that controlling population growth is easier than increasing the food supply.

Limitations:

• The theory doesn’t present the possibility of controlling the human birth rate, but establishes a extremely pessimistic approach where organisms of the human population will just die until food supply is enough.
• It doesn’t consider all of the changes that the industrial revolution brought.

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Boserup Theory:

• Presents a model of population in which the size determines the amount of food available.
  
• When there’s stress in relation between food supply and population size, people will always find a way to increase production.
  
• Workforce, machinery and fertilizers are the methods applied to increase food production.

Limitations:

• At first, when population is low, lands are used intermittently, using fallowing (the burning of crops) to make lands more fertile. It is when population increases, that lands are used in a scheduled way. However, this requires more effort in maintaining the land.
• The more maintenance, the more agricultural innovation, but labor increases towards farmers.
• This tends to increase workforce but decrease crop efficiency, a process Ester calls ‘agricultural intensification’.