The shadow of the world's future, or The earth's population possibilities & the consequences of the present rate of increase of the earth's inhabitants

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1775636852

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-164018

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Knibbs, George Handley http://d-nb.info/gnd/1045010944

Title:: The shadow of the world's future, or The earth's population possibilities & the consequences of the present rate of increase of the earth's inhabitants

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Ernest Benn Limited

Year of publication:: (1928)

Scope:: 131 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter IV. The world's cereal and food-corps and its mineral needs

Collection:: Economics Books

44 THE SHADOW OF THE WORLD'S FUTURE had a limit to its possible population, and that its rate of growth diminished in the ratio of its possible future increase of numbers to its ultimate population. This has again been advanced by Prof. Pearl and Dr Reed of the Johns Hopkins University, and they have shown that such a law does hold good, with a high approxima- sion, for the yeast organism, and for the fly Drosophila melanogaster. The difficulties of the world’s present rate of de- velopment are by no means confined to questions of food-supply. A study of the increasing rate at which its mineral resources are being used up leads to the same conclusion, viz., that we have before us a troublous future. For be it noted that the rate of exploitation of the earth’s resources of coal, oil, iron, copper, zinc, tin, aluminium, and perhaps even of gold, etC., is one that has been increasing, and it cannot possibly go on increasing as it has in the past. The denizens of the earth have greatly raised the standard of living for the higher civilisations. This has attained to a degree of luxury which must perforce come to an end, and that soon.” The known supplies of minerals and metals would soon utterly fail, if the accelerating rates at which many of thém have been recently developed were to be kept up. The exploitation of these has been faster even than the population has grown. It should be noted, however, that such accelerations of the rate at which some of the metals have been used, are unlikely to last for more than a very limited time, and that the supplies of iron and aluminium are practically inexhaustible, while those of copper are” very great. The population- possibilities of the earth are such, that the correctives *0 the present rates of use will come automatically. It is not proposed here to give examples from the statistics of the Mineral Industry: it must suffice to say that the curves showing the rates of advance are

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