[Back to Physical Challenges]

Introduction

All the Physical Challenges are caused by the human race, but these are the challenges caused by the presence of humans and our economic activity.  In short, the challenges which don't fit neatly into one of the other two main categories.

• Overpopulation - and the consequences of ageing populations
• Unrestricted economic growth
• Pandemics, such as the Covid-19 Pandemic

There is a short (under 20 minutes) video by Economics Explained which summarizes many of these issues: MIT Has Predicted that Society Will Collapse in 2040.

Overpopulation is a physical challenge, simply because every human being has an impact on the planet, rich humans have a much greater impact, and humans are getting richer on average.

The population size is also a social issue: we have too many people to reliably feed everyone; conversely, the falling birth rate and consequent falling population in the developed world is also a problem that is going to get much worse on current trends.

See:

• Clare Wilson, writing in the New Scientist: Why falling birth rates will be a bigger problem than overpopulation Nearly every country is predicted to have a birth rate that is too low to maintain its population by 2100, which may result in too few people of working age.