Bihar Board Class 9 English Prose Chapter 4 Solutions – Too Many People Too Few Trees

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Chapter 4 of the Bihar Board Class 9 English book, “Too Many People, Too Few Trees,” written by Moti Nisani, addresses two critical global issues: overpopulation and deforestation. The chapter explains how rapid population growth is putting immense pressure on Earth’s resources, particularly forests. It describes the consequences of this imbalance, including pollution, climate change, and the loss of biodiversity.

Bihar Board Class 9 English Prose Chapter 4 Solutions

Subject	English
Class	9th
Chapter	4. Too Many People Too Few Trees
Author	Moti Nisani
Board	Bihar Board

Group Work

A. Work in small groups and discuss the relationship between population and pollution. You may include these points in your discussion:-

1. Population explosion.
2. Its effect on the development of the country.
3. More people, more land.
4. Deforestation

Ans. Population growth and pollution are closely linked. As the number of people increases rapidly (population explosion), it puts more pressure on our environment. This affects a country’s development in several ways. More people need more resources like food, water, and energy, which can strain the economy. They also require more land for housing and agriculture, often leading to deforestation. When forests are cut down, it harms wildlife and reduces the Earth’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide. This contributes to air pollution and climate change. Additionally, a larger population typically produces more waste and uses more vehicles, further increasing pollution. To address these issues, countries need to balance population growth with sustainable development practices.

B.1.1. Write ‘T’ for true and ‘F’ for false statements

Ans.

1. Throughout most of human existence, the number of births was slightly higher than the number of deaths. – (T)
2. More people will need even less food than they need now. – (F)
3. With more people, both town and country become more crowded. – (T)
4. Higher population density is also not likely to exacerbate crime, ethnic conflict and warfare. – (F)
5. Population size and rates of growth are key elements in environmental change. – (T)

B. 1.2. Answer the following questions very briefly

Q1. For how long has the global population been rapidly going up?

Ans. The global population has been rapidly going up during the last 3 centuries.

Q2. What happens when the population goes up?

Ans. When the population goes up pollution of rivers, lakes, air, drinking water and soil also goes up. The quality of life and its value continues to erode.

Q3. How many Americans die each day of asthma?

Ans. Fourteen Americans die each day of Asthma aggravated by air pollution.

B. 2.1. Complete the following sentences on the basis of the lesson

Ans.

1. The more we have, the better off we are.
2. History and common sense tell us that we can control population growth.
3. As the population grows, more and more people are forced to convert forest into farmlands
4. Forest covered around 40% of the earth’s total land area.
5. Humanity can continue to fell trees, cross its finger, and hope for the best.

B.2.2. Answer the following questions very briefly:-

Q1. Name the countries in which the population growth has been slowed down remarkably?

Ans. Countries like China, Thailand and Egypt the rate of population growth has slowed down remarkably.

Q2. The productivity and general health of the world’s forest are threatened. How?

Ans. The world’s forests are threatened by various environmental issues. These include climate change, air pollution, and acid rain, which can damage trees and reduce their growth. These factors harm the overall health and productivity of forests worldwide.

Q3. What hampers the ability of the biosphere to sustain life?

Ans. Deforestation reduces the Earth’s ability to support life in several ways. It leads to a loss of habitat for many species and disrupts ecosystems. This reduction in biodiversity weakens the biosphere’s capacity to sustain various life forms, including humans.

Q4. How does deforestation in Nepal affect India?

Ans. Deforestation in Nepal has direct consequences for India. When trees are removed, soil erosion increases, and the land’s ability to absorb rainwater decreases. This can lead to more severe flooding in neighboring India during heavy rains.

C. Long Answer Type Questions.

Q1. Why have human populations always been in flux?

Ans. Human populations have always changed due to births and deaths. However, in recent centuries, especially in industrialized countries, this pattern has shifted. Improved nutrition, sanitation, and healthcare have led to longer lifespans and more people reaching reproductive age. As a result, the global population has been increasing rapidly.

Q2. What does the writer mean by reproductive age? How do people reach this age?

Ans. Reproductive age refers to the period when a person can have children. It typically starts around age 15 and continues until about 50 for women and later for men. Better health and living conditions have allowed more people to reach and remain in this age range, contributing to population growth.

Q3. What is human-made pollution? How has it affected America? How will it affect your locality?

Ans. Human-made pollution comes from activities like deforestation, burning fossil fuels, and using harmful chemicals. In America, it has led to serious health issues, with many people suffering from respiratory diseases. In our locality, improper waste disposal and poor drainage systems are causing pollution, which could lead to various health problems if not addressed.

Q4. Population size and rates of growth are a key element in environmental change. Explain with any two examples from your own society.

Ans. Population growth significantly impacts the environment. As more people need resources, natural areas are often converted for human use. For example, in our village, an orchard was cut down to build new houses. Similarly, in Patna, farmland has been replaced by housing colonies, reducing green spaces and changing the local ecosystem.

Q5. How do countries like Germany, Switzerland, China, Thailand and Egypt manage to ‘reverse’ or slow down population growth? What does ‘reverse’ mean here? How has it been possible?

Ans. Countries like Germany and China have slowed population growth through various methods. ‘Reverse’ here means to reduce or stop the rapid increase. This has been achieved through education, better healthcare, family planning programs, and improving women’s rights and opportunities. These factors have led to smaller family sizes and more controlled population growth.

Q6. What do you mean by environment?

Ans. Environment refers to everything that surrounds us, including both natural and man-made elements. It includes the physical aspects like land, air, water, and food, as well as the social aspects that involve our interactions with society. Our environment directly affects our lives, so any harm to it ultimately impacts us as well.

Q7. How does pollution harm people?

Ans. Pollution harms people in many ways, primarily affecting our health and quality of life. The increase in air pollution from factories and vehicles releases harmful gases like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which can cause respiratory diseases. Water pollution affects our drinking water and food sources. In big cities, the pollution levels have become so high that they pose serious health risks to residents, making it crucial to take steps to reduce pollution.

Q8. What is the Chipko movement? How is it useful?

Ans. The Chipko movement is an environmental protection effort that started in India after independence. It involves villagers hugging trees to prevent them from being cut down. This movement has been successful in raising awareness about deforestation and has led to government bans on tree-cutting above certain altitudes in some areas. As a result, forests have regrown in some regions, helping to reduce floods and soil erosion.

Comprehension Based Questions with Answers

1. Human populations have always been in flux for the simple reason that every day some people die while others are born. Throughout most of human existence, the number of births was slightly higher than the number of deaths; consequently, world populations grew at a very slow rate. A few hundred years ago, however, the situation began to change, especially in the industrialized world. With advances in nutrition, sanitation, and health, people live longer and more of them reach reproductive age. Thus, for the first time in our species existence, the balance between the number of death and births has been significantly disturbed. Consequently, during the last three centuries or so, the global human population has been rapidly going up. Every year, in fact, the world’s population grows by more than 80 million people. It is, for instance, sobering to recall that for every eleven human beings alive now, only one was alive in the year 1950

Q1. Name the lesson and its author.

Ans. The name of the lesson is Too many People too few Trees and its author is Moti Nisan.

Q2. Why have human population always been in flux?

Ans. Human populations have always been in flux for the simple reason that every day some people die while others are born.

Q3. When did the situation begin to change?

Ans. A few hundred years ago, however, the situations began to change especially in the industrialized.world with advances in nutrition, sanitation and health.

Q4. How do people live longer today?

Ans. With advances in nutrition sanitation and health, people live longer and more of them reach reproductive age.

Q5. How does the world’s population grow every year?

Ans. More than 80 million people grow every year and thus it adds to the world’s population.

Q6. Find out the word in the passage which means ‘continuous flow’.

Ans. Flux.

2. On first sight, it may appear that, when it comes to something as valuable as a human being, the more we have, the better off we are. In some ways, this is true. All things being equal, more people are likely to generate more inventions, more technological breakthroughs, and more corporate profits. But. taken as a whole, most ecologists are convinced that the world is already overpopulated. Human populations cannot continue to grow indefinitely for the simple reason that the world itself is finite. More people will need own more food than they need now, and therefore, the process of deforestation will continue so that, eventually. wild trees will vanish. As the population goes up, so docs pollution of rivers, lakes, air, drinking water and soil. With more people, both town and country become more crowded. The quality of life, and the value we place on human life, will continue to erode. When the population is stable, increases in such things as food production, number of physicians, or hospitals are often tantamount to improved quality of life, but such increases often fail to keep pace with population growth. Higher population density is also likely to exacerbate crime, ethnic conflicts, and warfare.

Q1. Name the essay and its writer?

Ans. The name of the essay is Too many people, too Few Trees and its writer is Moti Nisan.

Q2. What does the author think about the population?

Ans. The author thinks about the population that on first sight, it may appear that more people will do more work such as inventions etc. but as a whole, the world is already overpopulated.

Q3. What is the reason for discontinuing the population?

Ans. Human populations cannot continue to grow indefinitely for the simple reason that the world itself is finite.

Q4. How will the process of deforestation continue?

Ans. More people will need even more food than they need now, and therefore, the process of deforestation will continue.

Q5. What is the possibility when population goes high?

Ans. As the population goes up, so does pollution of rivers, lakes, air, drinking water and soil. With more people, both town and country become more crowded. The quality of life and the value we place on human life will continue to erode.

Q6. What will be when the population is stable?

Ans. When the population is stable, increases in such things as food production, quality of life.

Q7. Find the word in the passage which means ‘make bitter’.

Ans. Exacerbate.

3. The American government, to take another example, estimates that some 60,000 Americans die each year from respiratory diseases which are in turn caused by human-made pollution. Fourteen Americans die each day of asthtna aggravated by air pollution three times the incidence of just twenty years ago. Needless to say, the situation in cities like Los Angeles, Kathmandu, Mexico, and Shanghai is even worse. In all these cases, the situation could be considerably improved by controlling pollution and population. Moreover, the world, as we have seen, faces such frightening problems as desertification, depletion of nonrenewable resources (e.g. petrol, natural gas, helium), acid rain, loss of wild species, ozone layer depletion, and the greenhouse effect. A United Nations 1993 document puts it this way: “Population size and rates of growth are key elements in environmental change. At any level of development, increased populations increase energy use. resource consumption and environmental stress”. So, the more people the world has, more severe these problems are likely to become.

Q1. How many Americans die each year from respiratory diseases?

Ans. 60,000 Americans die each year from respiratory diseases.

Q2. What is the position of Kathmandu regarding population?

Ans. The situation of Kathmandu regarding population is worse, that is high.

Q3. What is the frightening problem before the world?

Ans. The world has frightening problems as desertification, depletion of nonrenewable resources, acid rain, loss of wild species, ozone layer depletion and the greenhouse effect.

Q4. What are the key elements in. environment change?

Ans. Population size and rates of growth are key elements in environmental change.

4. Thus a large and rapidly growing population make decisive contributions to all environmental problems. In the long run, efforts to save the biosphere depend impart on our species ability to roll back its numbers. Yet, there is a bright side to this otherwise grim tale. History and common sense tell us that we can control population growth. The German and Swedish population, for example, defy world trends and are actually declining. In such overpopulated countries like China, Thailand, and Egypt the rate of population growth has solved down remarkable, thanks to concerted government action. How do these countries manage to reverse, or slow down, population growth? Many factors account for these remarkable declines: modernization, literacy, media campaigns, readily available family planning and contraceptives. equal economic, educational, and legal opportunities for Women. Human beings thus know how to control their numbers. What they have been lacking so far as the resolve to make use of this knowledge.

Q1. What are the growing population doing and how can bio-sphere be saved?

Ans. Large and rapidly growing population make decisive contributions to all environmental problems. The bio-sphere can be saved if the human species are able to roll I back its numbers.

Q2. Which countries defy the trends of population growth?

Ans. Germany and Sweden defy the world trends of population growth.

Q3. What are the factors to slow down the population?

Ans. The factors that account for the remarkable slow down of population in China, Thailand and Egypt are modernization, literacy, media campaigns, readily available

Q4. Find the word in the passage which mean planned activities’.

Ans. Campaign.

5. Let us move to another long term problem: the state of the world’s trees. Owing to rapid population growth, poverty, and other factors, many third world people are forced to move into harvest, clear, burn, or, cultivate tropical forest. Thus, population pressures – along with new technologies and the affluent lifestyle of some people exacerbate the problem of deforestation. A country like Nepal has just so much arable land. So, as the population grows, more and more people are forced to convert forests into farmlands. They must also cut down more and more trees for fuel. The people of rich countries are also guilty. To satisfy Westerners’ insatiable demands for hamburgers, more and more tropical rain forests in countries like Brazil are cleared and converted to pastures. Some rich people also buy mahogany furniture, newspaper, and other paper products in vast quantities.lt are frightening to recall, for instance, how many trees must be felled to just produce the Sunday edition of the New York Times! Many forests are also damaged by pollution, tourism, construction of houses and factories, and similar practices. Moreover, the productivity and general health of the world’s forests are threatened by such things as the greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion, airborne pollution, and acid rain.

Q1. Why are people forced to move into the harvest?

Ans. Owing to rapid population growth, poverty and other factors, many people are forced to move into the harvest.

Q2. Why does deforestation take place?

Ans. Population pressures long with new technologies and the affluent lifestyle of some people exacerbate the problem of deforestation.

Q3. What is frightening to recall?

Ans. It is frightening to recall, for instance how many trees must be felled to just produce the Sunday edition of the ‘New York Times’.

Q4. What is threatening for human beings?

Ans. The productivity and general health of the world’s forest is threatened by such things as the Green House Effect, Ozone Layer depletion, airborne pollution and acid rain.

Q5. Find the word in the passage which mean “land for grazing of cattle.”

Ans. Pastures.

6. The deforestation crisis is not new. Many earlier civilizations including those on Middle East, New Mexico, and Easter Island, precipitated their own decline through over-population and deforestation. The difference is that we are destroying our forests faster, and on a larger scale, than ever before. Earlier in this century, forests covered around 40% of the earth’s total land area. By this century’s end, that figure will stand at about 25%. The destruction of the forest, in turn, contributes to such things as the greenhouse effect, irreversible loss of many thousands of species of plants and animals, landslides, soil erosion, siltation of rivers and dams, droughts, and weather extremes. For instance, as the trees of Nepal are cut down, its topsoil is gradually being lost and its rains are likelier to cause devastating floods in India and Bangladesh. The eventual consequences of massive and ongoing deforestation are uncertain, but they are likely to damage the quality of life on earth, reduce the number of life forms that share the planet with us, and hamper the ability of the biosphere to sustain life. Humanity can continue to fell trees, cross its fingers, and hope for the best. Or it can take hold of its future and reverse the process of deforestation.

Q1. What happened to earlier civilization?

Ans. Many earlier civilizations, including those of middle East Mexico, and Easter Island precipitated their own decline. This was only due to overpopulation and deforestation.

Q2. What does the destruction of forest contribute?

Ans. The destruction of the forest, in turn, contributes to such things as the greenhouse effect, irreversible loss of many thousands of species of plants and animals, landslides soil erosion, siltation of rivers and dams, droughts and weather extremes.

Q3. What is the cause of flood in India and in Bangladesh?

Ans. As the trees of Nepal are cut down, its topsoil is gradually being lost and its rains are likelier to cause devastating floods in India and Bangladesh.

Q4. What may be the eventual consequences of deforestation?

Ans. The eventual consequences of deforestation may be the damage to the quality of life on earth, reduction in the number of life forms that share the planet with us and hampering the ability of the biosphere to sustain life.

Q5. Find the word from the passage which means “hinder”.

Ans. Hamper.

Other Chapter Solutions
Chapter 1 Solutions – Dharam Juddha
Chapter 2 Solutions – Yayati
Chapter 3 Solutions – A Silent Revolution
Chapter 4 Solutions – Too Many People Too Few Trees
Chapter 5 Solutions – Echo and Narcissus
Chapter 6 – The Shehnai of Bismillah Khan
Chapter 7 – Kathmandu
Chapter 8 – My Childhood
Chapter 9 – The Gift of The