What do you consider life's essentials? Is it food, water and shelter? or do we require much more? We live in a world where so many items are offered to us that this age old question constantly changes over time. Some may only require the three basic essentials; food,water and shelter, while others may require AC, internet and cell phones. All of these factors contribute to solving a very controversial question among scientists; What is the Earth's carrying capacity? There are various components in determining the carrying capacity of the Earth. The main component is the allocation of resources amongst Earth's inhabitants. In the opinion of technological historian David E. Nye, he believes that the answer to this question is socially constructed. Based on the needs and wants of people, the answer varies. Along with Nye, I agree that the answer to the carrying capacity of the Earth is socially constructed and is mainly based upon the per capita usage of resources.

As the days continue, Earth's population increases. The increase in population has scientists questioning the amount of people the Earth can sustain. Although man theories and educated guesses have been made, the answer cannot be 100% accurate. The threshold of the Earth's power to support life varies depending on its inhabitants. There are many factors that contribute to Earth's carrying capacity. The main component to answering this question is the consumption of valuable resources. Depending on how much and how quickly (per capita) humans and animals deplete the resources, a more accurate guess can be created. According to Nye, if humans want to eat meat daily and wear only natural fibers, the Earths carrying capacity will be much less than if humans would be willing to survive on limited amounts of meat and dress in synthetic materials. Another major factor that will attribute to the Earth's carrying capacity is our effect on the planet. Through pollution and disrespect to the nature around us, we may be drastically reducing the carrying capacity of the Earth. One reason is that by polluting the areas around us, we may be destroying useful resources without ever being able to use that resource.

Along with directly harming the environment around us by consuming resources and polluting, technological developments have also contributed to environmental destruction. "Western technologies have been used to create abundance, but at a high environmental cost" (Nye 98). Due to the economic emphasis on marginal benefit and marginal cost, through technological advancement, production levels have risen over the years. In earlier centuries, fields were plowed manually and when one person plowed a field, production levels and area plowed are not equal to that of a gas powered machine plowing the fields. Through technological innovations such as the automobile and other influences from the Industrial Revolution, air pollution and resource consumption have grown exponentially. Along with industrial items, chemical innovations have also contributed to environmental damages. The use of DDT since the mid twentieth century has caused immense damage to the environment around the world. This chemical compound is very useful in fighting malaria and other diseases. Although it has positive uses, due to the strength of this chemical bond, it does not break down in the environment and stays toxic for years, polluting fields and water supplies.

Even though technological inventions have caused environmental damage, technological innovations have also benefited the environment. Recently, developments in alternative energies have caused for a revived optimism in the number of humans the Earth can support. By decreasing out dependence on fossil fuels and other extremely limited and polluting resources to consuming more abundant and cleaner resources, the Earth's health and power should increase. Currently, fossil fuels are the most common source of fuel. With fossil fuels, it takes thousands or millions of years to produce these fuels and when consumed, these fuel sources leave a large carbon footprint that has serious ecological consequences. But, with research and development in new industries such as natural gases, wind and solar energy, alternative fuels show promising results as far as environmental destruction. In regards to hydrogen power, the result of consuming this gas is production of hydrogen and oxygen molecules into the atmosphere, which combine to create water. Through technology and advancement in science, future energy sources can be purely clean and not damage the environment, which will improve the Earth's carrying capacity exponentially.

The dilemma of calculating the Earth's carrying capacity will continue until the threshold is broken. Due to constant changes in lifestyles and innovations, the carrying capacity also changes. Currently, estimates have shown that the carrying capacity of the Earth is 10 billion, while other estimates have reached the 100 billion mark. Along with the carrying capacity changing due to lifestyle changes and innovations, the carrying capacity alters from time. If everything in the world is kept equal and the rate and number of resources consumed is kept constant, the Earth's carrying capacity will always be greater yesterday than today because the resources that were available yesterday are not available today, thus decreasing the carrying capacity. Scientists and mathematicians may be spending an incredible amount of time on quantifying the Earth's carrying capacity, but like Heisenberg's uncertainty principal, the Earth's carrying capacity is uncertain. The true number will never be known until the Earth cannot sustain human life; the more important question is, how long do we have on this planet?