In this essay, the situation between the growing numbers of people and the limited amounts of food will be discussed. As illustrated by the assignment question, there is a race between the population and the availability of food resources. Hence, in this race, some will lose. This can be understood in a sense that some people will have access to food and will survive whilst others may not have access or availability to foods and will therefore lose (die). From what I have learnt in my previous courses such as Ethics in the Human Sciences, I view this situation as being the survival of the fittest, just the idea that Herbert Spencer came up with. This is nothing but a contest where as the old saying goes, if you snooze, you lose.
In 1798, Thomas Malthus debated the idea and connection between population growth and food resources, in his Essay on the Principle of Population (Giddens, 2001). At that time, the European population began to expand and therefore Malthus explained that in order to fulfill demands of the population, more land needed to be cultivated (Giddens, 2001). He expressed that if this was neglected or the demands were not met then the outcome will be famine, which will also arise from war and plagues (Giddens, 2001).
Malthus also predicted that humans would live miserably through starvation (Giddens, 2001). He further urged that people live under a moral restraint where people would only have sexual intercourse after marriage in order to help curb the population growth (Giddens, 2001). Malthus was the most influential modern writer who argued that the biological reproductive instincts are the cause of population increases and that this results in poverty, which further results in no access to food resources (Weeks, 2008).
In developing countries where population growth is rapidly increasing, there is a higher demand for resources, especially that of food (Giddens, 2001). The United Nations has projected that the world’s population will...