This bulletin examines the narrowing margin between global food production and population growth. Between 1950 and 1971, world grain production nearly doubled and per capita production increased 31 percent. During the 1970s, gains in output barely kept pace with population growth, consumption per person declined in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of…

The causes of the world's food shortage are enumerated and explained. Possible solutions to the shortage are described with emphasis placed upon the moral decision of the affluent countries to take more responsibility in decreasing their consumption of food and energy. (DE)

Examines the relationship between population growth and world agricultural production. The reasons that crop yields are decreasing, ineffective remedies, and the future demands of food and food prices are discussed. (AM)

This paper highlights some of the themes that any successful strategy to reverse the decline of Africa must embrace. Africa is a continent experiencing a breakdown in the relationship between people and their natural support systems. Famine and the threat of famine are among the manifestations of this breakdown. This decline can be reversed. To do…

Natural soil fertility is now declining on an estimated one-fifth of the world's croplands. Direct evidence of the mounting pressures on the global cropland base is seen in accelerating soil erosion, the spread of deserts, and the loss of cropland to nonfarm uses. (Author/BB)

Cites evidence to support the theory that the world food shortage will become a chronic condition. Describes the depletion of surplus food supplies and the increasing dependence on North America for food supplies. (MLH)

This paper discusses six steps which must be taken on a global level to put society on a sustainable path. Of the various steps none is more important than bringing population growth to a halt. The official United Nations medium-level population projects, used by planners throughout the world, show world population reaching some 10.5 billion…

This paper, an adaption from the author's forthcoming book "The Twenty-Ninth Day: Accomodating Human Needs and Numbers to the Earth's Resources," deals with non-military threats to national security. Since World War II the concept of national security has acquired an overwhelmingly military character. The policy of continual preparedness has led…

Possible future roles and designs of cars are examined in light of depletion of the earth's oil reserves. A major problem with regard to the rapidly changing world oil outlook is that cars will be competing with more essential claiments for scarce oil supplies including food production, industrial power, home heating, and running trucks and…

The paper explores how continuously expanding world demand for food, feed, and fuel is generating pressure to restructure agricultural land use. In addition, problems related to transfer of agricultural crop land to energy crops are discussed. The technology of energy crops has developed to the point where large-scale commercial production of…

This publication discusses worldwide problems and issues of concern. There are two major parts. Part I deals with "Converging Demands." For those who regularly read the Worldwatch Papers, much of the material in this section will be familiar. The material is included here particularly for the sake of those readers abroad who do not have…

The interrelationship of population growth, food production, and death rates is explored. Birth rates in China, Western Europe, and North America have significantly decreased in the five-year period from 1970-75. This is largely due to widening availability of family planning services and the growing desire to use them. Four European countries…

The report identifies regions in which deserts and arid zones are increasing; discusses social and climatic causes of deserts; and suggests ways to cope with and reverse problems of famine, malnutrition, and drought. Increasingly, land is being sapped of its ability to sustain agriculture and human habitation north and south of the Sahara, in…

Twenty-two facets of the world population problem are explored. The topics are economic, social, ecological, and political in nature and generally portray the stresses and strains associated with continued population growth in a world inhabited by four billion people. These aspects of the population problem are discussed: literacy, oceanic…

The second of a series of annual reports designed to provide a global assessment of progress toward a sustainable society, this publication monitors changes in the global resource base (land, water, energy, and biological support systems), focusing particularly on how these changes affect the economy. Included in the report are news on innovative…