Crowded Planet

A powerful look at Earth's population crisisThere are over 8 billion human beings living on Earth. That's a LOT of people! And the world's population is still growing, which leads to a big question... are there too many of us? The human population has been rising since ancient times, but it has zoomed up especially fast over the last 100 years or so. As there are so many of us, and because of the way we live, we've made huge changes to the planet. We've taken over wild areas, affecting the other living things we share our world with. How can we lessen our impact on Earth, before it's too late?ContentsA world full of peopleThe rise of humansPopulation explosionCASE STUDY: Crowded TokyoTaking over the worldFood and water Population and healthHarming wildlifeCASE STUDY: Palm oil plantations[Country populationsMoving aroundHow many children?CASE STUDY: Girls' education in KenyaPopulation pyramidsAgeing populationsFalling populationsCASE STUDY: Plummeting population in Puerto RicoUp or down?What can you do?Into the futureGlossaryFurther readingIndexTitles in this series:Plastic PlanetHot PlanetPandemic PlanetRecycled PlanetSustainable PlanetExtinction PlanetPeaceful Planet?Unequal Planet