pulation the most recent billion, from 5 billion to 6 billion. Such a massive and still increasing population, combined with the environmentally detrimental repercussions of industrialization, as a result of the need to sustain such a large population, namely pollution from fossil fuels, has begun to take a serious toll on our planet's ecosystem. With the population rising at an enormous rate of 1.7 million a week, the world as a whole is being drained of its resources (Southwick 162). Different theories have prevailed on what will occur as the population continues to explode ranging from the Malthusian apocalypse to absolutely no effects at all. Over the last two centuries as agricultural and technological advancements came about, the planet's overall carrying capacity increased dramatically. It is estimated that the world could support over twenty times its current population living at 120 per square meter in 2000-story buildings. (Dolan 74) Overpopulation not only adversely affects the "environment," or nature but also has a large impact on human societies today.
             Population concerns began in 1798 when Thomas Robert Malthus, an Anglican clergyman, wrote an essay entitled An Essay on The Principle of Population. The essay focused on the relationship that he believed
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