<P> These reflect the comments also of the United States Geological Survey in their paper The Future of Planet Earth: Scientific Challenges in the Coming Century . "As the global population continues to grow...people will place greater and greater demands on the resources of our planet, including mineral and energy resources, open space, water, and plant and animal resources ." "Earth's natural wealth: an audit" by New Scientist magazine states that many of the minerals that we use for a variety of products are in danger of running out in the near future . A handful of geologists around the world have calculated the costs of new technologies in terms of the materials they use and the implications of their spreading to the developing world . All agree that the planet's booming population and rising standards of living are set to put unprecedented demands on the materials that only Earth itself can provide . Limitations on how much of these materials is available could even mean that some technologies are not worth pursuing long term..."Virgin stocks of several metals appear inadequate to sustain the modern' developed world' quality of life for all of Earth's people under contemporary technology". </P> <P> On the other hand, some cornucopian researchers, such as Julian L. Simon and Bjørn Lomborg believe that resources exist for further population growth . In a 2010 study, they concluded that "there are not (and will never be) too many people for the planet to feed" according to The Independent . Some critics warn, this will be at a high cost to the Earth: "the technological optimists are probably correct in claiming that overall world food production can be increased substantially over the next few decades...(however) the environmental cost of what Paul R. and Anne H. Ehrlich describe as' turning the Earth into a giant human feedlot' could be severe . A large expansion of agriculture to provide growing populations with improved diets is likely to lead to further deforestation, loss of species, soil erosion, and pollution from pesticides and fertilizer runoff as farming intensifies and new land is brought into production ." Since we are intimately dependent upon the living systems of the Earth, some scientists have questioned the wisdom of further expansion . </P> <P> According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a four - year research effort by 1,360 of the world's prominent scientists commissioned to measure the actual value of natural resources to humans and the world, "The structure of the world's ecosystems changed more rapidly in the second half of the twentieth century than at any time in recorded human history, and virtually all of Earth's ecosystems have now been significantly transformed through human actions ." "Ecosystem services, particularly food production, timber and fisheries, are important for employment and economic activity . Intensive use of ecosystems often produces the greatest short - term advantage, but excessive and unsustainable use can lead to losses in the long term . A country could cut its forests and deplete its fisheries, and this would show only as a positive gain to GDP, despite the loss of capital assets . If the full economic value of ecosystems were taken into account in decision - making, their degradation could be significantly slowed down or even reversed ." </P> <P> Another study was done by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called the Global Environment Outlook . </P>

When did the human population begin to grow at a faster rate than any other time in history
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