Allen Greer Argument Analysis

This evaluative essay will be discussing and analysing the target article by Allen Greer titled ‘Fewer people would mean fewer worries’. In order to do so appropriately, this essay will use methods of argument analysis that have been developed during this course. This article appeared in the Australian on 16 January 2008. It addresses environmental issues such as climate change, water shortages and the dearth of arable land for agriculture. Greer essential argument states that reducing or stabilising the population of the world should be the preferred method to combat these environmental issues rather than relying on ever increasing technological advancement. He argues that technology hasn't been able to cope with the demands of the ever-growing
demands of the worlds population thus far. Moreover, he suggests that the human population has already overwhelmed the environment. The main argument however may come across as weak, as some of the supporting arguments expose a few flaws. Throughout this essay, I will be addressing the main conclusion and working backwards and evaluating all arguments supporting his conclusion. Beginning with Allen Greer’s main conclusion, he states that technology cannot address the demand caused due to earth’s rapidly expanding population. The first point he makes is that technology is constantly scrambling to find the next technological solution, and as a result essentially attempting to constantly catch up. In support of this, he argues that by looking at the example of genetically modified crop developed to increase yield, it shows that the time taken in development of the technology saw the population grow so rapidly that it rendered the technology almost obsolete. He also states that the inefficiency of clean coal and nuclear power, which were touted as one of the most favoured technological solutions are riddled with their own environmental problems and are largely unproven.