Maximum occupancy - Earth?

Question

What should the maximum human occupancy allowed on Earth be?

Answer 1

In biology, this is called the 'carrying capacity' - the maximum amount of a certain creature that an environment can support. When a population is above the carrying capacity, things like disease, predation, and other kinds of things increase dramatically until eventually the population is brought back by natural forces to the carrying capacity or lower. Since we haven't hit that point yet - by all indications the global population is still wildly growing - the exact carrying capacity is a matter of dispute.

Nor is there a dearth of things to dispute about. Obviously, if you don't mind a poor standard of living, you can cram a dozen people instead of just one into a given area. Likewise, technological advancements tend to drastically improve carrying capacity, allowing for better control of disease, waste, more crops per unit area, protection from other lifeforms, and so on.

It may well be that our technology increases fast enough that we never reach our own carrying capacity on the planet. And since highly-technological nations tend to have smaller (or negative!) population growth, it may be that other social factors keep us from hitting the carrying capacity too. Let's hope that one of these is the case.

But that doesn't stop people from guessing! Joel Cohen, taking a range of conditions into account as well as other people's estimates, guessed in a paper in Science magazine that the Earth's carrying capacity for humans was between 7.7 to 12 billion people. And that was in 1995... I would expect (for reasons stated above) the current estimates would be slightly higher by now. Since the current world population is estimated to be about 6.5 billion people, we'll either be there soon or we have a long ways to go.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

The earth’s life cycles and naturual laws plus the solar system are all connected. The earth is a living planet of natural growth and human population. The life cycle affects the population of the earth. Plants live sometimes for a few months during the warmer climates and others do not. Animals
live for a given amount of time it depends on the species.
Humans also live a certain amount of years. These God
given creations which allow these cycles to exist and continue. Because if you take into account all these areas of defined cycles.
You will find that it is beyond man's knowledge to have created
such a system. Everything has it’s devine boundiers that
cannot be crossed. The population of earth in controled by these factors of life. Everything is alive and has its own
cycle in order to exist. Hope my answer gives you a new view on looking at the earth in a spiritual way,

Answer 3

In 50 years, we'll be at around 10 billion souls. That's way too much for this ol earth to sustain, there'll be zeron fossil fuels, zero coal and other natural resources. A calamity in the way of war, famine and disease will occur bringing us to more sustainable levels, say around 3 billion.

We;re currently at 6.5 billion and climbing.

Answer 4

I bear in mind studying someplace that the optimal sustainable inhabitants is between 500 million and one thousand million. it really is that if anybody is to have a sensible commonplace of living and no serious ecosystems are to be placed out of stability. i trust we are already eating one and a 1/2 situations the Earth's sustainable means. it really is we are spending the capital as well because the interest.

Answer 5

there is none, we will be able to relive capicity on earth by forming colonies on other planets by the time we reach population cap, yet the western world is making this hard by feeding starving nations, their population is above its cap, the govt has no way of supporting them without aid, we need to stop giving aid and let the population dwindle down to acceptable levels

Answer 6

we will find out in few thousand years

Answer 7

9,000,000,000 people, the rest will be fed to livestock, so we will be eating them indirectly.

Answer 8

as much as god will allow