A somewhat more rigorous definition to economic growth is in terms of increase in per capita GNP, rather than GNP itself. After all, we are unlikely to say that people are ‘better off’ economically if the economy grows but the average level of income falls. This possibility is a real one because in quite a few countries the rate of population growth is so fast that increases in economic growth are more than offset by the increased number of people. The average income falls, or at least does not rise as much as it might have done without population growth. This suggests that population growth is also a source of pressure on natural environments. This pressure takes many forms. The more people there are the more food will be needed. To get more food if becomes necessary to put more land under agriculture , displacing forests and many natural habitats. More people mean more demand for water. We tend to think of water as being plentiful, but in many countries water us a very scarce commodity. More people mean more demand for energy and hence more pollution fore energy sources, and, in the developing world, more deforestation as people demand fuelwood( though this is not a major cause of deforestation in most countries). The faster is population growth, then, the quicker we are likely to approach both the waste receiving and resource availability limits to growth.
The –interaction between population growth, economic growth, natural resource availability and waste receiving capacity is still regarded by many environmentalists as the reason why growth has to stop. The most celebrated expression of this view was in The Limit to Growth, a book by The Club of Rome published in 1972 ,but the view also has more current adherents
机械翻译的请靠边,谢谢!!! 11点前翻好再给100分