Figure 1.
How many people can our planet sustain? The answer depends on the amount of food produced, energy available, the rate at which people consume resources, and how resources are shared. In this chapter we will discuss the use of models to address questions on the carrying capacity of the environment. We present a model where agents interact with their environment. The agents need to have resources to survive. They will search the environment to collect those resources. The amount of resources available is limited and can be regenerated at a modest pace. If the agents consume more resources then the environment can produce, there might be a problem for the population in the long term.
Although the model presented in this chapter is rather abstract, it addresses a number of broader questions on sustainability.