TUGAS 1 READING 2 / PBIS4208

Now read the following article, and then answer the questions that follows.

TOO MANY MOUTHS TO FEED?

How many people can live on the face of the earth? No one knows the answer. It depends on
how much food people can grow without destroying the environment.

More people now exist than ever before, and the population keeps growing. Every 15 seconds,
about 100 babies are born. By the early 21st century, experts say, as many as 6 billion people
will live on this planet. Before the end of the 21st century, the earth may hold 10 billion
people!

To feed everyone, farmers must grow more food. They are trying to do so. World food
production has gradually risen over the years. In some parts of the world, however, the
population is growing faster than the food supply. Some experts fear the world will not be
able to produce enough food for a population that never stops increasing.

To grow more crops on the same amount of land, farmers use fertilizers and pesticides. Some
plant new kinds of grains that produce more food. These things help – but they don’t provide
perfect solutions. The chemicals in fertilizers and pesticides can pollute water supplies. The
new seeds developed by scientists may have reached the limit of what they can produce.

When hungry people can coax no more out of existing farmland, they search for more.
Usually, the best land is already in use. People have to scretch new farms into steep hillsides
or carve fields out of forests.

As people clear trees from hills and forests, they expose the soil. Then rain and floods may
strip the topsoil from fields. Winds may blow it away. This process is called erosion. Each
year erosion steals billions of tons of topsoil from farmers – soil they could have used to grow
food.

Destruction of trees, erosion, and overgrazing by farm animals can turn fertile land into
desert. And deserts can spread. The Sahara Desert in North Africa, for example, is moving
southward. Its shifting sands are gradually smothering villages and fields.

To farmers water can be as important as the land. In recent years irrigation has made many
dry areas bloom. Yet experts warn that some forms of irrigation can hurt the land in the long
run. Sometimes irrigation water contains large quantities of dissolved salt. Over time the salt
builds up in the soil and kills plants.

This harvest of problems demands solutions. But experts disagree about what should be done.
Some believe birthrates must fall or the world will run out of food. “Without reducing the size
of the human population,” says Stanford University professor Paul Ehrlich, “none of these
problems is likely to be solved.”
 Other experts believe the earth can provide enough food for all. Pierre Crosson and Norman
Rosenberg of Resources for the Future, a research group, say that world food production
could grow much more slowly than current rate, and there would still be enough food for ten
billion people. Still, getting the food to those who need it is a problem. In some tropical
countries, two-thirds of the world’s people live on only one-fifth of the world’s food.

Most hungry people live in developing countries – those without much modern industry. The
people lack money to buy food and means to transport it. If nations with surplus food try to
help, donations may not reach those who need them. Bad roads, politics, and warfare often
block delivery.

Since no one can predict the future, no one knows how long the world’s food supply will feed
its people. Most experts favor a two-part attack on hunger. Bring food supplies up and birth
rates down.

Better education for women in developing countries can help do both. Women do much of the
farm work in these countries. Education will help them get the most out of agricultural
assistance. They can also take advantage of family planning information.

Scientists can aid the war against hunger by developing crops that resist disease and by
improving irrigation methods. People everywhere must learn how to grow food without
harming the environment.

Population and hunger are global problems. No one nation can solve them. “We have created
the fix in which society finds itself,” says Ehrlich, “but we still have the opportunity and
ability to pull ourselves out of it – if we act rapidly and with determination. Our species is
capable of providing all its members with a satisfying, productive life in a healthy
environment. No great scientific breakthroughs are required – just a collective determination
to change our minds and our ways.”

A. What is the main idea of each of the following paragraphs.

1. Paragraph 2
2. Paragraph 6
3. Paragraph 10
4. Paragraph 13
5. Paragraph 15

B. Answer the following questions.

1. What two main problems does the article discuss?
2. What two primary solutions to these problems does the article suggest?
3. What two groups of people should be part of the solution?
4. What is the result of overgrazing, erosion, and cutting trees?
5. How can education help save the environment?