Most of us consider climate change and global warming when we talk about a shift in the world. But are climate change and global warming the only issues we may consider when discussing global change? No. A big subject, global transformation. The forces driving global change are changes in land usage, energy use, human population growth and consumption, and pollution.

• Rapid human population growth is occurring. In comparison to the middle of the 20th century, the world's population has increased by more than three times. At the middle of November 2022, the population surpassed 8 billion.

• 2.5 billion people were thought to be on the planet in 1950.

• The population of the world is projected to rise by approximately 2 billion people over the course of the next 30 years, from the present 8 billion to 9.7 billion in 2050, with a potential peak of nearly 10.4 billion in the middle of the 1980s.

• The amount of people determines how much of various resource categories are consumed. The consumption and use of resources increase in direct proportion to the human population.