SOC450 Week 4 Assignment 1 Latest 2019 January Question # 00597205 Course Code : SOC450 Subject: Sociology Due on: 01/25/2019 Posted On: 01/25/2019 12:15 PM Tutorials: 1 Rating: 4.7/5

SOC450
Solutions to Global Issues

Assignment
1

Assignment 1: Social Impact of Population Growth

The United Nations has hired you to be a consultant on
global issues. One of the challenges is assessing the impact of population
growth. There is no question that the world population will grow dramatically
in the next decade throughout many countries of the world. The members of the
UN are working to understand the impact that population growth has on society,
specifically in developing countries. Your first project with the UN is to
develop a whitepaper on three issues related to the population growth faced by
one of these countries. Read the Case Study and provide an assessment based on
the questions below.

(For a brief list of
resources for this assignment, please see the end of the course guide.)

II.
Overview

Our obsession with continual economic growth deters us from
studying the role that an expanding population plays in global warming.[1]

About 3 billion years ago, the Earth suffered through a mass
extinction caused by catastrophic volcanic activity in Siberia and wildfires
that covered the entire planet. Since then, four more extinctions have
eradicated up to 80% of all species each time. The world’s climatologists and
scientists overwhelmingly agree that we are now on the verge of a sixth mass
event that, over the next few tens of thousands of years, will wipe out nearly
all living species on Earth — including humankind.

This is not the stuff of science fiction or speculation, but
rather the studied view of the people who are most qualified to make this kind
of assessment. As anthropologist Richard Leaky, author of The Sixth
Extinction,[2] wrote in 1995, “Homo sapiens might not only be the agent of the
sixth extinction, but also risks being one of its victims.”

This brings us to two issues worthy of reflection:

Does the rate at which people are reproducing need to be
controlled to save the environment?

To what extent does human population growth impact global
warming… and what can be done about it?[3]

The answer to the first is quite simply “yes,” but the
solution to the second is more problematic. The damage humans are doing to
their climate is ruining the atmosphere surrounding their planet. At the rate
this damage is increasing, at some point in the future there will be no
atmosphere left to protect life on Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
Compared to other planets in our solar system, Earth has mild temperatures,
thanks largely to the protective gases of its atmosphere.

However, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution
(around 1775), those gases have become stuck in the atmosphere, causing heat
radiating from the sun to reflect back to Earth (rather than exiting to space).
The result is that oceans have become warmer and glaciers are melting,
including parts of Antarctica. If we think of that continent as the stopper in
a bottle, its melting away will release all the water it is holding back. This
will raise sea levels to uncontrollable levels and flood coastal regions for
miles inland.

The two main culprits for this warming trend are carbon
dioxide (CO2) and methane. These gases, called greenhouse gases, are trapped by
the Earth’s atmosphere and, in turn, heat up the entire planet. It is worth
noting that warming oceans are killing off kelp beds throughout the Earth’s
oceans and coastlines at a prodigious rate. Not only do hundreds of millions of
people depend on the fish that thrive on this ecosystem, but kelp is a natural
absorbent of CO2. It purifies both the water around the kelp and the air we
breathe.

Population growth that consumes natural resources is
partially to blame for the release of greenhouse gases, as are deforestation,
soil erosion, and farming (overturned dirt releases CO2). The real issue,
however, is the burning of fossil fuels (hydrocarbons) such as coal oil and
natural gas, which have been produced by the organic remains of prehistoric
organisms. The release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) such as refrigerants (used
to cool the air in air conditioners and refrigerators), propellants in aerosol
sprays, and solvents also contribute heavily to the depletion of the ozone
layer in the Earth’s stratosphere. The stratosphere is responsible for
filtering out much of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, preventing humans from
burning to death.

Continuing to release these gases and CFCs into the
atmosphere at these rates will have catastrophic effects on the Earth’s
ecosystems and its level of biodiversity. Temperatures will warm by about two
degrees Fahrenheit, changing weather patterns for the worse across the globe.
In December 2017, the World Bank stated, “Climate change is an acute threat to
global development and efforts to end poverty. Without urgent action, climate
impacts could push an additional 100 million people into poverty by
2030.”[4]

II. Case
Assessment

The world’s population is expanding at such a rate that some
natural resources are being stripped from the environment. This case study deals
with how global institutions are working to prevent the loss of these
resources. It also deals with, in effect, the consequences of not having access
to these resources.

As the first section of your whitepaper for the UN, research
the impact of population growth on society. Write a minimum of four pages
assessing the impact, citing at least five credible sources in your research.
As you compose the whitepaper, review the United Nations list of developing
countries (available on the United Nations website). Select one country from
the UN developing countries list to use as an example throughout your
assessment. Please include:

A cover page with your name, title of course, date, and the
name of your instructor

A one-half page introduction

A middle section that is numbered and divided into three
one-page sections. Each of these sections should answer one of the following
questions:

What are greenhouse gases? How do they contribute to global
warming?

What kinds of economic, security, political, and other challenges
do these emissions pose to the people of the developing world, and who are the
biggest offenders?

Is there any way to control the growth of population on a
global level?

A one-half page conclusion

Cite at least five credible sources, excluding Wikipedia,
dictionaries and encyclopedias for your assessment.

For a brief list of resources for this assignment, please
see the end of the course guide.

This course requires use of new Strayer Writing Standards
(SWS). The format is different than other Strayer University courses. Please
take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details. (Note: You will be
prompted to enter your Blackboard login credentials to view these standards.)

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this
assignment are:

Evaluate the impacts of population growth and its negative
impacts on global societies while considering multiple perspectives.

[1] George Gitlitz, ‘The Climate Problem – But Don’t Mention
Population,’ Berkeleyside, June 19, 2018.

[2] Discover Magazine, July/August 2018, p. 55

[3] Larry LeDoux, ‘Does Population Growth Impact Climate
Change,’ Scientific American, September 2018.

[4] Bill McKibben, ‘A Very Grim Forecast,’ Review Article of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Global Warming of 1.5°C: An IPCC
Special Report, in The New York Review of Books, Vol. LXV, No. 18, November 22,
2018, p. 4.