title: Population and the environment:  a parable of firewood and other tales.
abstract: The author analyzes the relationship between population and the environment, with a focus on "the role which environmental degradation and natural resources depletion may play in producing the...population pressure which lies behind such degradation and depletion especially in developing countries.... The principal conclusion of this analysis is that the possibilities for a stable equilibrium between human population and its environment are quite limited....I show that parental altruism toward their children can only make matters worse, if socially unchecked, by leading to an increase of the birthrate in every environmental state in comparison with that which would occur in its absence."
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003710:Demography; D003906:Developing Countries; D004467:Economics; D004777:Environment; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D005298:Fertility; D011153:Population; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011158:Population Growth
keywords: Carrying Capacity; Child Worth; Demographic Factors; Developing Countries; Economic Factors; Environment; Environmental Degradation; Environmental Pollution; Fertility; Microeconomic Factors; Natural Resources; Population; Population Dynamics; Population Growth; Population Pressure