economic growth. On the other hand, contrary to the argument, a new way of revised thinking, called revisionism has occurred recently in Europe and America. This points out that as long as population growth is not so severe, it does not have a dampening effect on economic development.
However, during last decade, it became clear that world population growth, especially population growth in developing regions, has had a bad influence on the environment of the earth. Particularly severe population growth in poor, developing regions is said to break up the balance of the life system on earth by abusing farm lands and expanding over its limit. After 1960, it was reported that in Africa, the dessert has been growing bigger, in South East Asia and Central America, tropical rain forest are disappearing, moreover, in highlands such as the Himalayas, the Andes, and East Africa, mountainous regions are having been destroyed. It is a fact as many people have pointed out that at the bottom of this environmental disruption, there is a vicious cycle of population growth and poverty.
However, they say that fact is, up to this point, advanced industrial countries are the ones that have changed for the worse the earth environment. For example, carbon dioxide exhaust is causing the earth's temperature to raise and chlorofluoro-carbon gas is destroying the ozone layer. This is caused by mass production, mass consumption, and mass dumping.
The population of advanced industrial countries are only 1/4 of the world population, yet have consumed 3/4 of world resources by now. However, until now, mass production and consumption were considered a virtue, they were the symbol of economic development, rise of standard of living and prosperity. But the time has come that both developed and developing countries are pondering their goals of development and materialistic prosperity and are being urged to change immediately their paradigm and ideals. With this comes one of the new ways of thinking, development which can last, but internationally, they are not necessarily able to agree on how they should develop that which will last.
Environmental damage on a global scale up to this point, was caused by
