Summary Response of the Earth Is Full

In his article, The Earth Is Full, Friedman (2011) begins by stating that in recent years, first decade of 21st century, humanity encounters dangers that threaten humanity and the nature because of their unconcerned behaviors. Economic problems, high growing population rate and natural disasters compel humans to question about those recent years. The writer then moves on to the veteran Australian environmentalist-entrepreneur Paul Gilding and his book, Gilding, P. (2011) The Great Disruption: Why the climate crisis will bring on the end of shopping and the birth of a new world.

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New York: Bloomsbury Press. Gilding (2011) discusses how much land and water area humanity needs to produce the resources they consume and absorb their waste. According to Gilding (2011), earth is growing at a dangerous rate and points out that over-used resources and worsening ecologic environment damage to social and economic system. Friedman reports the current growth rate is 150 percent of earth’s sustainable capacity and states that excessive use of resources and too much waste that creates the problem, “The Earth Is Full. He mentions about two loops; first, population growth and global warming push up food prices, which leads to political instability, which leads to higher oil prices, which leads to higher food prices, and so on in a insurmountable circle. Second, higher productivity means fewer jobs, which requires humans to produce more sources to create jobs. The more sources create global warming. Afterwards, the writer turns his attention to possible solutions. The solutions are discussed by giving Gilding’s eco-optimist view. In the article, also it is stated that economic systems are not changed without a crisis.

Friedman (2011) states that “But don’t worry, we’re getting there. ” Finally, Friedman prefers to use quotations from Gilding who say nations are heading for a crisis-driven choice and develop a new sustainable economic model slowly. Global warming, starvation, worsening ecological environment, exhaustion of resources, too much waste and the conflict between humanity and nature are very current and serious problems of the entire world. In the article these problems are discussed based on the fundamental source of the problems, high population rate. Also, based on Sullivan, M. 1999) Population control: How many are too many? , she states “ Global warming, the thinning of the ozone layer, increasing crime rates, toxic chemicals in our food, and starvation in developing nations, each of which is at least partially due to growing world population” (Sullivan, 1999). According to that paper, there are now 5. 8 billion human beings on the planet now, and according to the United Nations, the population of earth is expected to grow to around 7. 9 billion by 2050. According to statistics, it is clear that growth rate is too much for the earth and causes a huge instability.

In the article, Friedman, T. (2011) The Earth Is Full, some economic models are taken in hand as a basis for the solution. However, the damages that high population brings cannot be dispelled only with economic systems. Also, political systems must be developed and humans must be made conscious about all of those problems. •Friedman, T. (2011) The earth is full. NYT •Gilding, P. (2011) The Great Disruption: Why the climate crisis will bring on the end of shopping and the birth of a new world. New York: Bloomsbury Press. •Sullivan, M. (1999) Population control: How many are