Too Many People, Too Few Trees Summary and Explanation
BSEB Class 9 English Chapter 4 Too Many People, Too Few Trees Summary, Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings from English Panorama-I Book
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BSEB Class 9 English Panorama-I Book Chapter 4 – Too Many People, Too Few Trees
Moti Nisani
The essay below provides a brief introduction to the twin problem of overpopulation and deforestation.
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Too Many People, Too Few Trees Summary
Human population used to grow at a very slow rate because the number of births was only slightly higher than the number of deaths. After industrialisation, the number of births grew more rapidly and more people reached the reproductive age because of improvements in the fields of science and medicine. Now, every year, the world population grew by more than 80 million people, completely disturbing the balance. It is human nature to discover, invent, and explore. But this nature has brought about new ways for the human population to flourish, leading to overpopulation. Human populations should not continue to grow indefinitely for various reasons. One, the world and the resources in it are finite. Like in the case of America, a survey showed that 1570,000 Americans die each year from respiratory diseases caused by human-made pollution, and 14 Americans die each day of asthma made worse by air pollution. Two, population growth will lead to a decrease in the quality of life due to pollution and overcrowding. This can be seen in the depletion of nonrenewable resources (e.g., oil, natural gas, helium), acid rain, loss of wild species, ozone layer depletion, and the greenhouse effect. Three, indefinite and rapid growth will increase crime cases, ethical issues, and warfare. The United Nations 1993 document states that population size and rates of growth are key elements in environmental change. Therefore, an increase in population results in an increase in energy use, resource consumption and environmental stress. Fortunately, many countries like Germany, Sweden, China, Thailand, and Egypt have reduced their population through modernisation, literacy, media campaigns, readily available family planning and contraceptives, and equal economic, educational, and legal opportunities for women. Due to overpopulation, the rate of deforestation has also increased to support the growing human population and to satisfy the needs of wealthy people. Deforestation also occurs to combat poverty, like in Nepal, where there is an abundance of land fit for cultivation. The best source of income there is to convert that land into farmland through deforestation. We can see the evidence of the dire consequences of deforestation when earlier civilisations in the Middle East, New Mexico, and Easter Island suddenly collapsed. The total forest area has gone from 40% to 25%. Deforestation in Nepal will increase the chances of floods in India and Bangladesh. Therefore, it is necessary to reverse the process of deforestation.
Summary of the Lesson Too Many People, Too Few Trees in Hindi
जन्मों की संख्या मृत्यु की संख्या से थोड़ी ही अधिक होने के कारण मानव जनसंख्या की वृद्धि दर पहले बहुत धीमी थी। औद्योगीकरण के बाद, विज्ञान और चिकित्सा के क्षेत्र में हुई प्रगति के कारण जन्मों की संख्या में तेजी से वृद्धि हुई और अधिक लोग प्रजनन योग्य आयु तक पहुँचने लगे। अब, हर साल विश्व जनसंख्या में 8 करोड़ से अधिक लोगों की वृद्धि हो रही है, जिससे जनसंख्या का अनुपात पूरी तरह बिगड़ गया है। खोज करना, आविष्कार करना और अन्वेषण करना मानव स्वभाव है। लेकिन इसी स्वभाव ने मानव जनसंख्या के फलने-फूलने के नए तरीके विकसित किए हैं, जिससे अतिजनसंख्या की समस्या उत्पन्न हुई है। कई कारणों से मानव जनसंख्या को अनिश्चित काल तक बढ़ते रहना उचित नहीं है। पहला कारण यह है कि दुनिया और उसके संसाधन सीमित हैं। उदाहरण के लिए, अमेरिका में एक सर्वेक्षण से पता चला है कि मानव निर्मित प्रदूषण से होने वाली श्वसन संबंधी बीमारियों से हर साल 60,000 अमेरिकी मरते हैं, और वायु प्रदूषण के कारण अस्थमा की स्थिति और बिगड़ने से प्रतिदिन 14 अमेरिकी मरते हैं। दूसरा, जनसंख्या वृद्धि प्रदूषण और भीड़भाड़ के कारण जीवन की गुणवत्ता में गिरावट लाएगी। इसका प्रभाव गैर-नवीकरणीय संसाधनों (जैसे तेल, प्राकृतिक गैस, हीलियम) के क्षय, अम्लीय वर्षा, वन्य प्रजातियों के विलुप्त होने, ओजोन परत के क्षरण और ग्रीनहाउस प्रभाव के रूप में देखा जा सकता है। तीसरा, अनिश्चित और तीव्र वृद्धि से अपराध, नैतिक मुद्दे और युद्ध बढ़ेंगे। संयुक्त राष्ट्र के 1993 के दस्तावेज़ में कहा गया है कि जनसंख्या का आकार और वृद्धि दर पर्यावरणीय परिवर्तन के प्रमुख कारक हैं। इसलिए, जनसंख्या में वृद्धि से ऊर्जा का उपयोग, संसाधनों की खपत और पर्यावरणीय तनाव में वृद्धि होती है। सौभाग्य से, जर्मनी, स्वीडन, चीन, थाईलैंड और मिस्र जैसे कई देशों ने आधुनिकीकरण, साक्षरता, मीडिया अभियानों, आसानी से उपलब्ध परिवार नियोजन और गर्भनिरोधकों और महिलाओं के लिए समान आर्थिक, शैक्षिक और कानूनी अवसरों के माध्यम से अपनी जनसंख्या को कम किया है। जनसंख्या वृद्धि के कारण, बढ़ती मानव आबादी का भरण-पोषण करने और धनी लोगों की आवश्यकताओं को पूरा करने के लिए वनों की कटाई की दर भी बढ़ गई है। गरीबी से निपटने के लिए भी वनों की कटाई की जाती है, जैसे कि नेपाल में, जहाँ खेती योग्य भूमि प्रचुर मात्रा में उपलब्ध है। वहाँ आय का सबसे अच्छा स्रोत वनों की कटाई के माध्यम से उस भूमि को कृषि भूमि में परिवर्तित करना है। वनों की कटाई के भयावह परिणामों के प्रमाण मध्य पूर्व, न्यू मैक्सिको और ईस्टर द्वीप में प्राचीन सभ्यताओं के अचानक पतन से मिलते हैं। कुल वन क्षेत्र 40% से घटकर 25% रह गया है। नेपाल में वनों की कटाई से भारत और बांग्लादेश में बाढ़ की संभावना बढ़ जाएगी। इसलिए, वनों की कटाई की प्रक्रिया को रोकना आवश्यक है।
Theme of the Lesson Too Many People, Too Few Trees
The chapter is centred around the environmental crisis brought about by different types of environmental degradation caused by human actions. The chapter highlights two crises in particular: overpopulation and deforestation. The lesson shows how human greed has resulted in a reduction in the total forest area on the earth, an increase in pollution, an increase in the greenhouse effect, and an overall decrease in the quality of life. The lesson sheds light on the importance of reversing the process of deforestation and controlling the growth rate of the human population.
Too Many People, Too Few Trees Lesson Explanation
Passage: Human populations have always been in flux, for the simple reason that every day some people die while others are born. Throughout most of human existence, the number of births was slightly higher than the number of deaths; consequently, world populations grew at a very slow rate. A few hundred years ago, however, the situation. began to change, especially in the industrialized world. With advances in nutrition, sanitation, and health, people live longer and more of them reach reproductive age. Thus, for the first time in our species existence, the balance between the number of deaths and births has been significantly disturbed. Consequently, during the last three centuries or so, the global human population has been rapidly going up. Every year, in fact, the world’s population grows by more than 80 million people. It is, for instance, sobering to recall that for every eleven human beings alive now, only one was alive in the year 1950!
Word-meanings:
flux: continuous flow
existence: the state or fact of being real or living
sanitation: improvement in sanitary methods.
species: group having some common characteristics
sobering: being sensible
Explanation: Human population has been increasing rapidly due to a disturbance in the balance between the number of deaths and births. A long time ago, the number of births was only slightly higher than the number of deaths, making the population growth rate very slow. However, after industrialization, people lived longer and more children reached the reproductive age. This was due to the developments in health, nutrition, sanitation, and other facilities. Due to that, the world’s population grows by more than 80 million people every single year. This is serious and sad to see how for every eleven human beings alive now, only one was alive in the year 1950.
Passage: On first sight, it may appear that, when it comes to something as valuable as a human being, the more we have, the better off we are. In some ways, this is true. All things being equal, more people are likely to generate more inventions, more technological breakthroughs, and more corporate profits. But, taken as a whole, most ecologists are convinced that the world is already overpopulated.
Word-meanings:
inventions: scientific devices developed by innovative discoveries
corporate: a large commercial company
Explanation: Some people believe that any object or discovery that is valuable to the human being will result in a huge population growth. Therefore, every valuable thing to humans should be avoided. However, it is human nature to invent, discover, and yield company profits. Ecologists are convinced that the world is already overpopulated due to this aspect of human nature.
Passage: Human populations cannot continue to grow indefinitely for the simple reason that the world itself is finite. More people will need even more food than they need now, and therefore, the process of deforestation will continue so that, eventually, wild trees will vanish. As the population goes up, so does pollution of rivers, lakes, air, drinking water and soil. With more people both town and country become more crowded. The quality of life, and the value we place on human life, will continue to erode. When the population is stable, increases in such things as food production, number of physicians, or hospitals are often tantamount to improved quality of life, but such increases often fail to keep pace with population growth. Higher population density is also likely to exacerbate crime, ethnic conflicts, and warfare.
Word-meanings:
vanish: to disappear
erode: to destroy
tantamount: equivalent
exacerbate: to make sour and bitter
ethnic: pertaining to races
Explanation: Human populations should not continue to grow indefinitely for various reasons. One, the world and the resources in it are finite. Two, population growth will lead to a decrease in the quality of life due to pollution and overcrowding. Three, indefinite and rapid growth will increase crime cases, ethical issues, and warfare.
Passage: The American government, to take another example, estimates that some 157,000 Americans die each year from respiratory diseases which are in turn caused by human made pollution. Fourteen Americans die each day of asthma aggravated by air pollution-three times the incidence of just twenty years ago. Needless to say, the situation in cities like Los Angeles, Kathmandu, Mexico, and Shanghai is even worse. In all these cases, the situation could be considerably improved by controlling pollution and population.
Word-meanings:
aggravate: make (a problem, injury, or offence) worse or more serious
Explanation: The American government estimates that around 157,000 Americans die each year from respiratory diseases caused by human-made pollution. 14 Americans die each day of asthma made worse by air pollution. The number is three times more than the number that was twenty years ago. Los Angeles, Kathmandu, Mexico, and Shanghai is seeing worse conditions, which can be improved by controlling population and pollution.
Passage: Moreover, the world, as we have seen, faces such frightening problems as desertification, depletion of nonrenewable resources (e.g., patrol, natural gas, helium), acid rain, loss of wild species, ozone layer depletion, and the greenhouse effect. A United Nations 1993 document puts it this way: “Population size and rates of growth are key elements in environmental change. At any level of development, increased populations increase energy use, resource consumption and environmental stress”. So, the more people the world has, the more severe these problems are likely to become.
Word-meanings:
desertification: the process of becoming or making something a desert
Explanation: We face environmental problems such as desertification, depletion of nonrenewable resources, acid rain, loss of wild species, ozone layer depletion, and the greenhouse effect. The United Nations 1993 document states that population size and rates of growth are key elements in environmental change. An increase in population results in an increase in energy use, resource consumption and environmental stress.
Passage: Thus, large and rapidly growing populations make decisive contributions to all environmental problems. In the long run, efforts to save the biosphere depend in part on our species’ ability to roll back its numbers. Yet there is a bright side to this otherwise grim tale: History and common sense tell us that we can control population growth. The German and Swedish populations, for example, defy world trends, and are actually declining. In such overpopulated countries like China, Thailand, and Egypt the rate of population growth has slowed down remarkably, thanks to concerted government actions. How do these countries manage to reverse, or slow down, population growth? Many factors account for these remarkable declines; modernization, literacy, media campaigns, readily available family planning and contraceptives equal economic, educational, and legal opportunities for women. Human beings thus know how to control their numbers. What they have been lacking so far is the resolve to make use of this knowledge.
Word-meanings:
defy: resist openly
campaign: an organised course of action
Explanation: History and common sense can tell us that we can control population growth. In Germany and Sweden, population is declining. Seeing these two countries, overpopulated countries like China, Thailand, and Egypt adopted government actions like modernisation, literacy, media campaigns, readily available family planning and contraceptives, and equal economic, educational, and legal opportunities for women. Those three countries are now seeing a reverse or slowing in population growth. This shows that humans do know how to control their own population but are not motivated or resolved enough to use that knowledge.
Passage: Let us move to another long-term problem: the state of the world’s trees. Owing to rapid population growth, poverty, and other factors, many third world people are forced to move into harvest, clear, burn, or cultivate tropical forest. Thus, population pressures – along with new technologies and the affluent lifestyle of some people – exacerbate the problem of deforestation. A country like Nepal has just so much arable land. So, as the population grows, more and more people are forced to convert forests into farmlands. They must also cut down more and more trees for fuel. The people of rich countries are also guilty. To satisfy Westerners’ insatiable demands for hamburgers, more and more tropical rain forests in countries like Brazil are cleared and converted to pastures. Some rich people also buy mahogany furniture, newspapers, and other paper products in vast quantities. It is frightening to recall, for instance, how many trees must be felled to just produce the Sunday edition of the New York Times! Many forests are also damaged by pollution, tourism, construction of houses and factories,and similar practices. Moreover, the productivity and general health of the world’s forests is threatened by such things as the greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion, airborne pollution, and acid rain.
Word-meanings:
tropical: pertaining to the tropics.
affluent: wealthy
arable: fit for cultivation
pastures: land for grazing of cattle.
Explanation: Due to overpopulation and poverty, large amounts of trees are being cleared up, especially the tropical forests. Technology and the affluent lifestyle of some people make the situation even more bitter, as that adds on to the demand for more resources and more tropical forests to be cleared up. One scenario is of Nepal, where there is an abundance of land fit for cultivation. The best source of income there is to convert that land into farmland through deforestation. The second scenario is that the people from rich and developed countries need more food, resulting in tropical rainforests in Brazil being cleared up. The land is then used for cattle-grazing to produce more meat. Third, rich people indulge in mahogany furniture, newspapers like the Sunday edition of the New York Times, and other paper products. Other ways deforestation occurs are: pollution, tourism, construction of houses and factories, and environmental degradation like the greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion, airborne pollution, and acid rain.
Passage: The deforestation crisis is not new. Many earlier civilizations, including those of the Middle East, New Mexico, and Easter Island, precipitated their own decline through overpopulation and deforestation. The difference is that we are destroying our forests faster, and on a larger scale, than ever before.
Word-meanings:
precipitate: cause suddenly or prematurely
Explanation: The deforestation crisis is not a new problem. Earlier civilisations in the Middle East, New Mexico, and Easter Island suddenly caused their own population decline through overpopulation and deforestation. However, the rate of deforestation has gone up now, making it more concerning.
Passage: Earlier in this century, forests covered around 40% of the earth’s total land area. By this century’s end, that figure will stand at about 25%. The destruction of forest, in turn contributes to such things as the greenhouse effect, irreversible loss of many thousands of species of plants and animals, landslides, soil erosion, siltation of rivers and dams, droughts, and weather extremes. For instance, as the trees of Nepal are cut down, its topsoil is gradually being lost and its rains are likelier to cause devastating floods in India and Bangladesh.
Word-meanings:
landslides: falling of rocks and stones from mountains
devastating: causing destruction
Explanation: Earlier in the century, forests covered about 40% of the total land area. The estimate amount at the century’s end is said to be 25%. Deforestation can lead to an increase in the greenhouse effect, irreversible loss of many thousands of species of plants and animals, landslides, soil erosion, siltation of rivers and dams, droughts, and weather extremes. For example, the lack of trees in Nepal can increase chances of destructive floods in India and Bangladesh.
Passage: The eventual consequences of massive and ongoing deforestation are uncertain, but they are likely to damage the quality of life on earth, reduce the number of life forms that share the planet with us, and hamper the ability of the biosphere to sustain life. Humanity can continue to fell trees, cross its fingers, and hope for the best. Or it can take hold of its future and reverse the process of deforestation.
Word-meanings:
hamper: to hinder
Explanation: The exact consequences of large-scale and devastating deforestation are not known. This is because the Earth is very interesting and its phenomena still continue to baffle scientists. There are three major consequences of deforestation: damage to the quality of life on earth, a reduction in the number of organisms, and interference with the biosphere’s ability to provide and sustain life. We have two options now: either we cross our fingers and continue cutting trees, or we can reverse the process of deforestation and save our future.
Conclusion
This post on the lesson “Too many people, Too few Trees” from BSEB Class 9 English Panorama book provides the summary, explanation and word meanings which will help students get a better understanding.