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Anna Dudgeon
Review 2
Summary of World Watch Report # 183
POPULATION, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND WOMEN’S LIVES
By Robert Engelman
Published by Worldwatch Institute 2010
Robert Engelman’s report discusses the human effects of climate change to the world.
Climate change is natural and inevitable, however humans have effect on it as population climbs
and we increase our use of technologies and natural resources (Engelman page 7). “ The
predicament we face today is that all of these aspects of human growth and behavior are joining
forces to cause a warming of Earth’s climate beyond any naturally occurring (Engelman page
7).” Engelman states that the momentum of climate change is increasing so quickly, that we
should expect there to be a hazardous future ahead.
Engelman suggests that while many consider human impact on climate change to be
recent, it has been happening for thousands of years. He believes that it started some 13,000
years ago as hunting diminished the large plant eating animal population before the ice age
(Engelman page 9). “Researchers at the University of New Mexico estimate that this prehistoric
extinction spasm could explain anywhere between 13 and 100 percent of the reduction in
methane observed in ancient glacial cores just before the centuries-long cold snap known as the
Younger Dryas (Engelmamnpage 9).” Lack of methane caused the global temperatures to drop.
In addition, it is also theorized that climate change was altered by the development of
agriculture. The domestication of animals increased methane and the increase in crop growth
also increased the presence of carbon dioxide in the air. Engelman states that while human
behaviors and advancements have little immediate impact on the climate changes of the Earth,
they in fact impact the Earth gradually over time in a collective effect.
Climate change is also impacted by human use of greenhouses. Engelman states,
“Greenhouse gases absorb and then re-emit radiation from Earth’s sun-warmed surface in rough
proportion to the complexity of their molecular structure and their abundance to the atmosphere.
Human activities have increased the concentrations of many greenhouse gases well above their
natural levels, raising world temperatures above what they would be (Engelman page 11).
Greenhouse gases also include some of which are fairly new in the over timeline of the human
population. These gases include refrigerants, fire retardants, cleaning chemicals and medical
supplies. They trap heat and cause emissions dangerous to the Earth and are a known factor in
climate change.
Also, Engelman’s report attributes climate change not only to the emissions that humans
produce, but to the increase in human population which is resulting in a higher consumption of
resources and a higher demand for them. The overall supply of natural resources on Earth is
diminishing because we are using more and more every day. “Much of the environmental
degradation that many attribute to climate change actually has other roots. Water scarcity often
owes more to decades of steadily rising human demands on finite supplies. Soil degradation
stems from unsustainable use more often than from temperature jumps or shifts in precipitation.
The trend towards greater loss of life and property from natural disasters appears mostly
unrelated to climate change-so far- but stems more directly from population growth, which
drives people to occupy land that is vulnerable to weather extremes, and from economic growth
(Engelman page 15).”
Towards the end of the report, Engelman focuses not on the causes of and the negative
impact that humans make on climate change, but instead the work that can be done to reverse the
damage we have done. Engelman states that we cannot look for immediate correction, but must
work to a better future, even if that means hundreds of years from now. “In a story told by U.S.
President John F. Kennedy, a man asks his gardener to plant a tree. But the gardener objects,
saying that the tree is slow growing and won’t mature for 100 years. ‘In that case, there is no
time to lose, the man replies. Plant it this afternoon (Engelman page 23).’” The report compares
population to a tree. The increase in population does not have immediate effects on
environmental problems, but instead contributes to a long term, gradual, and collective or
collaborative impact on the state of the environment. The long term effects of human population
can occur over decades or even centuries. But despite how many trees we plant, we will not be
able to reverse the effects of negative emissions we emit into the air fast enough. Engelman says
that we need immediate correction. How do we do this? “Only one swift worldwide transition
to low carbon technologies, hyper efficient energy use, and the movement of carbon from the
atmosphere into trees and soils could halt and then reverse the growth of emissions and
concentrations any time soon S(Engelman page 25).” It sounds like an almost next to
impossible feat.
I enjoyed reading about how the human population effects the overall climate change of
the world. I, like many others I am sure, do not think about human actions in such a grandeur
theory. I cannot say that I was surprised to read that humans are a significant factor in the
increasing change in climate. We are a world guilty of overconsumption and we are generally
naïve to our impact on the Earth. Collectively, we have no major concern for the results of our
actions. We live our lives daily driving our gas guzzling vehicles to work, cutting down trees to
waste for Christmas, when according to President John F. Kennedy, we should instead be
planting them for to sustain our environment 100 years from now. We are raising temperatures
by increase in agricultural developments as well as the breeding and domesticating or farting
animals! I was so surprised. Not that animals fart. Everybody farts. I was surprised that the
animal and human release of methane gas is so significant to climate change that it was actually
mentioned in detail in the report. We are confusing our climate with our wasteful behaviors and
our gaseous tendencies. It does not know whether to increase in temperature, or to decrease. I
suppose that is why I have been writing this review and it’s a warm forty degrees outside in
December.