Doomsday Model Essay Example

What is the Doomsday Model (neo-Malthusian approach)? Has this view been challenged by anyone? If so, on what grounds?

The doomsday model is fundamentally the applications of Thomas Malthus' theories to the contemporary world frameworks for the idea of examining the tentative trends and establishing comprehensive predictions. According to Malthus, population increase is responsible for human suffering (Scupin, 2011). As such, human population continues to increase uncontrollably coupled with environmental as well as technological trends human existence would be threatened. In this argument, he posits that the growth of population has to be moderated through an increase in mortality or through a reduction in fertility. The Neo Malthusian view denotes that the earth can only withstand the needs, inclusive of agricultural needs, of a particular number of population and in case of population increase, there would be adverse socioeconomic implications (Scupin, 2011). This approach extensively elaborate other aspects and resources rather than agricultural sustainability to demystify the implication of overpopulation.

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According to Robertson (2012), American environmentalism originated from the Neo Malthusian view of population growth in relation to environmental conservation. For the environmentalists, grappling with population growth was a vital element in averting the most intractable challenges that Americans encountered after the World War II (Robertson, 2012). These challenges were inclusive of but not limited to poverty, racial atrocities, suburban spreads. It supports the ideas of the Malthusian view through a balanced investigation of environmental crusades models.

The doomsday model has been challenged by a number of scholars and economists. Firstly, Julian Simon, an economist, held different views in regards to Neo Malthusian ideas. He illustrated the actual occurrences on the globe without necessarily looking at the abstract models. His strategy illustrated that the doomsday strategy lacked a comprehensive historical viewpoint in discussing limitations to growth. As such, doomsday model makes a blatant presumption on the historical standpoint because it only focuses on the prospective outcome of events and not the past ones (Scupin, 2011). In light of this, he claims that rational theories are founded on empirical information and are consequential from outright experiences which should be tested upon the same.

In Simon's defense to challenge neo Malthusian model, he points out various deficiencies of the limit to growth. Tentatively, one of these deficiencies is that the Neo Malthusian theory depicted a flawed way of presentations about the natural resources. These presentations are based on the belief that resources are issued and are independent and are not subject to human creativity and productivity as well as free from human modifications. The neo-Malthusian talk is essentially overwhelmed by the idea of the limit of resources believing of them as impenetrable to transformation enhanced by technology and innovation (Scupin, 2011). He predominantly highlighted the 'closed system' imagination linked to the neo Malthusian idea. In line with this, he claimed that misunderstanding which is closely linked to the natural resources is integrated with those linked to the demographic foundation of economic growth. Emphatically, he implied that increased population is associated with great technological advancement which in the long run enhances production, communication, exchange, consumption, innovation and economic development. For this reason, his texts 'The Resourceful Earth' together with Kahn, offers great insight on an alternative framework of growth to the Neo Malthusian strategy (Simon & Kahn, 1984).

Conclusion

Summarily, the doomsday model, usually portrayed as the negative perspective is the theory that attempts to predict that if the population increase is not controlled, it would present an ecological catastrophe which would become quite an extensive threat for human to tackle. This paper has also justified the Neo Malthusian approaches which suggest that the earth can only support the agricultural needs of a limited population and population can be controlled through reduced fertility and increased mortality. However, Simon challenges the doomsday model by elaborating the possibility of the benefits of population increase through productivity and innovation.

References

Robertson, T. (2012). The Malthusian moment: Global population growth and the birth of American environmentalism. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Scupin, R. (2011). Cultural anthropology: A global perspective (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR.

Simon, J., & Kahn, H. (1984). The resourceful earth (1st ed.). Oxford, OX: B. Blackwell.