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On Human Population Growth, Natural Selection, and the Tragedy of the Commons
Author(s) -
Sandvik Hanno
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1046/j.1523-1739.1999.013002447.x
Subject(s) - population , library science , citation , history , humanities , sociology , art , computer science , demography
In two recent issues of Conservation Biology , Gehrt (1996) and Kay (1997) discussed some aspects of the “human population problem.” Gehrt advocated the promotion of education and ecocentric ethics to change human population growth and behavior. Kay suggested, on the other hand, that a human population problem does not exist because the real problem is evolution by natural selection. Therefore, neither education nor ethics can offer solutions. I comment on both contributions and correct some misconceptions, especially one about “the laws of evolution.” More specifically, I want to address (1) what the human population problem consists of and (2) whether it really is a problem of natural selection.