The Population Challenge:
   From 1950 to 2000 the world's population grew from about 2.5 billion to more than 6 billion. The pace of population growth may continue to increase. Can the world's land  and resources support the demands of so many people? In this essay, Lester Brown, founder and president of the Wol
   The population of the world grew at an infinitesimal rate for most of human history, abou 0.002% per year. Not until the 17th century, with advance in science, agricultural, and industry, did world population growth begin to accelerate. Over the next 300 years the world's population increased fivefold, from about 500 million in 1650 to about 2.5 billion in 1950.
    In the second half of the 20th century the population grew even faster, reaching more than 6 billion in 2000, according to the United Nations(UN). These figures mean that the world's population has grown more in 50 years then it did during the more then 4 million years since our early ancestors first stood upright.
   This unprecedented surge in population, combined with rising individual consumption of food, water, and natural resources, has begun to strain Earth's capacity to sustain human life. Demands for water are draining supplies from aquifers and other water sources. Demand for fish, a food staple in many areas of the world. Human activities that cause pollution and depletion of fish stocks around the world. Human activities that cause pollution and encroach on natural habitats are responsible for the greatest extinction of plant and animal species since the dinosaurs disappeared about 65 million years ago. Meanwhile global warming has begun to change Earth's surface temperature caused largely by the burning of fossil has begun to change Earth's climate in ways not yet fully understood. In short, the growth in human population and the scale of human activities appear to be redirecting the natural course of our planet.