Global Warming

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with respect to each other is presented here to
demonstrate the relations among these factors.

POPULATION GROWTH

Many of us have seen linear graphs of human population showing the enormous
growth in the last two centuries. However, significant changes in population
dynamics are lost in the exponential growth and long time scales. If the data
are replotted on a log-population by log-time scale, significant population
dynamics emerge. First, it is apparent that population growth has occurred in
three surges and second, that the time between surges has dramatically shortened
(Deevey, 1960).

Figure 1. Population (Log-population verses log-time since 1 million
years ago). Time values on x-axis, ignoring minus sign, are powers of 10 years
before and after 1975 (at 0). Vertical dashed-line at 1995. Filled circles for
known values are to left of 1995 and open circles on and to right of 1995 are
for projected values. (Data updated from Deevey, 1960). ----------

Deevey's 1960 graph has ...

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second surge began with the agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago
and was followed by slow growth. Deevey argued that moving down the food chain
was the underlying cause of this large and rapid spurt. The timing of the
present surge matches the rise of the industrial-medical revolution 200 years
ago.

A relation between innovation and population growth is embedded in the log-log
plot. There was rapid growth at the start of each surge. Then, growth rate
slowed as people adapted to the precipitating innovations. Each surge increased
the population more than 10-fold. It appears that we are nearing the end of the
present surge as recent growth rates have declined. After the ...

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