Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a prominent controversial topic among society, in which some believe the exponential growth of humanity is detrimental to its future, whereas others conclude this theory is a myth due to human nature and resources. In Isaac Asimov’s, “The Case Against Man”, he elucidated the verity of overpopulation, emphasizing that the disproportion of earth’s carrying capacity and its resources will inevitably lead to humanity’s demise. Introducing the notion that humanity “is one enormous intricately interrelated and interdependent system” (Asimov 431) and using science, mathematics, statistics, and analogies, Asimov declared the sole solution of overpopulation is increasing the number of deaths, or
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With differing in some aspects and sharing some techniques, Ellis and Asimov effectively made their argument clear to readers based on the development and coherence of their articles, helping them create and establishing their voice and tone. Asimov’s structured his article in 3 main sections: from the past, prehistoric age, and to the present by talking of the current number of humans on earth and cancer. Ellis’s article is too structured in 3 main sections: the past, prehistoric age, and builds to modern age with estimated world population, and talk of the Food and Agriculture Organization. Being that he a biochemist and known for his high-volume science writings, Asimov utilizes ethos effectively, giving his argument credibility. Ellis also utilizes ethos, for being an associate professor of geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland, trained as a biologist and researcher of ecology, gives his argument credibility as well. Taking distinctive approaches using science, Ellis’s and Asimov’s voice and tone differed. Asimov flow of words, using an articulate and sophisticated voice, created an eloquent and instructive tone. With language and diction such as imagination, nonsense, and a sense of humor and statements such as “there is only one earth, of course!”
The most persistent theory written by Thomas Malthus in 1798 regarding population growth and the effects on humanity, which is rather ironic as it has a almost lack of connection to the actual history of humanity and its population growth. In 100CE the population of the Earth was estimated to be under one billion people, roughly at 200 million people, following on almost 2 millennia later to 1800CE the population had seen a mere growth to approximately 800 million. During this time Malthus wrote a piece regarding the slow growth in population and why this was rate was the way things would be for the rest of human life. He put forward that the limits of human population growth are due to
What is overpopulation? Overpopulation has been defined as a situation where the number of people in an environment exhausts all available resources weakening its needed support. (Morse &Mosher) For years there have been reports of how many people are expected to live on earth by the year 2050, 2075, and so on. However, the question remains as to whether everyone will have a secured spot. Today, in 2017 there have been plenty of fights with the scarcity of resources, where overpopulation becomes the topic of conversation. However, to solve this issue the option of abortion was brought to the forefront by scientists and advocates such as Dan Savage who mentioned that abortion should be mandatory for the next 30 years in or to control the
Population Growth is an issue that exists in today’s world that needs to be confronted before it becomes out of hand. The population itself has reached overwhelming numbers making it a problem that could turn to be dangerous. The amount of humans that the earth can support or the carrying capacity is slowly rising but at a much slower rate than the population growth rate. The increasing growth rate has its negative effects environmentally, agriculturally, socially, and economically and also has its positive effects nationally, and economically. The government is brainstorming and trying to come up with ways to decrease
“The Wreck of Time,” written by Annie Dillard, illustrates societies battle with population. Dillard emphasizes the disasters that savage our world. According to the author, “ By moderate figures, the dead outnumber us about fourteen to one. The dead will always outnumber the living.” (Dillard 168) The amount of natural or man-made catastrophes do not affect the population as much as we claim. Dillards opinions are supported with facts throughout her essay, but readers are still left to question, why is our world considered to be overpopulated? Perhaps it is time for our society to consider Earth is not overpopulated in terms of people, but in resources. In addition, humans are struggling to grasp that other ecosystems are also being affected. With the introduction of Darwinism (the theory of evolution, by natural selections), humans are programed with the mentality of “survival of the fittest” forcing our humanity to evolve. Although evolution proved to be beneficial, as our immune system and way of life improved, we sacrificed our natural resources along the way. The problem with our society is not the lack of knowledge, but the ignorance and selfishness within our society. Overpopulation, threatened by the lack of resources, intimidates humans to disrupt biodiversity as we know it. (1) Man-made changes jeopardize our biodiversity. (2) As a result, the Earth’s resources are being depleted due to rapid consumption. (3) Even though we lack resources,
Overpopulation, pollution, global warming, climate change, genetic modification, ocean acidification, water/soil pollution, deforestation, acid rain, and ozone depletion are among some of the main factors that have a negative impact on the planet. Overpopulation is one the most concerning environmental issues currently. Overpopulation is defined as the human population of a specific area exceeding the carrying capacity. Overpopulation can occur from an increase in births mainly or a decline in deaths. Also, other factors that affect overpopulation can be an increase in immigration or a depletion of resources. It was stated by the United Nations that the worth has a total carrying capacity of somewhere between 4 and 16 billion. Currently we hold over 7 billion humans on Earth. As of 2017 the UN has increased their population predictions to 9.8 billion by 2050 and up to 15 billion by 2100. Pollution we hear about every day.
The world is in a constant state of change, today’s decisions will affect the future of all species large and small, defining the ways in which society will continue to live. The essay “No New Worlds” written by Dr. Adrian Forsyth explores ideas associated with ever changing populations and states of the world. The essay describes the existence of humankind by their impacts on the surrounding environments. The reader is then introduced to the implications our world faces if these problems are not solved and additionally steps to solving these issues. Thus, both men and women need to take action to help or pay the consequences and protect the only world we have, planet Earth.
Thesis: The topic of human population growth is an important issue due to its impacts upon people in developing countries, economics, religion, food production, and the environment; without any limitations, population growth can lead to negative consequences, such as famine and environmental destruction, or even positive outcomes, such as potential economic growth.
In the short story "2BR02B" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., population balance overrules all aspects of a persons' life as well as the society that they live in. In order for more people to be brought into the world, others must die or be killed off to maintain what is thought to be an ideal population of humans on the planet. The quote "We humans have become a disease, the Human Pox" by Dave Foreman relates to this story exceptionally well because it basically implies that humans are rapidly multiplying and that if we do not take growth rate into consideration, soon enough, our population is going to be too high for anything to function in the correct manner. If we have a lot of people, it means that there will be an increase in the amount of resources
No matter how many people do claim overpopulation is not a relevant issue, it very much is because of the simple fact that starvation and pollution are very real and existing issues that are ultimately offset by overpopulation. In an article titled “Overpopulation Is Not the Problem,” author Erle C. Ellis uses the analogy “Like bacteria in a petri dish, our exploding numbers are reaching the limits of a finite planet, with dire consequences,” to argue that overpopulation is not a problem by stating the opposing claim. “We are nothing like bacteria in a petri dish,” Mr. Ellis solemnly asserts, “...these claims demonstrate a profound misunderstanding of the ecology of human systems. The conditions that sustain humanity are not natural and never have been. Since prehistory, human populations have used technologies and engineered ecosystems to sustain
He believed that there would eventually be more people on this Earth than it would be physically possible to feed. Eventually, food would run out and result in a catastrophic mass starvation of the worlds population. The idea makes sense. People seemed grow on an exponential scale, eventually there will be too many people if we continued at that rate. This idea has evolved over the years, but the general idea remains the same. There will eventually be too many people, or will there? Several estimations predict that the human population will eventually level out. This means overpopulation is not the real issue. A new perspective on this topic will allow for an accurate goal post shift away from common misconceptions. This goal post shift will offer a new win-lose relationship for overpopulation in terms of environmental ethics.
Throughout the last few hundred years, humans have built a foundation. Compared to all of the other animal species on Earth, humans are the most intelligent. We have built houses everywhere, developed a system to sustain ourselves, and now inhabit almost every piece of land on earth. Humans are smart, strong, and know how to fend for themselves. But, humans have a tendency to take it too far, and we have already done so. There have been numerous advancements over the past few hundred years which could ultimately lead to the downfall of the human race. The main issue is overpopulation due to the advancements in technology and general knowledge. The statistics from an article by Kenneth Smail show that “In the year 1900, there were almost 2 billion humans living on Earth. Throughout the 1960’s, the baby boom, there were 3 billion humans on Earth. Today in 2016, there are just over 7 billion humans living on Earth.” Currently, we have taken up just over half of all available land on this planet, and with increased amounts of people having kids, our population will only increase. Overpopulation is becoming a serious problem all around the world, especially in countries such as China and India. There are many global problems associated with overpopulation that are becoming more and more prevalent, which will all have dangerous effects on the foundation that humans have
“Overpopulation is an undesirable condition where the number of existing human population exceeds the carrying capacity of Earth. Overpopulation is caused by number of factors. Reduced mortality rate, better medical facilities, depletion of precious resources are few of the causes which results in overpopulation.” In today’s society most Americans have at least five children, this can include one person who has five kids that was from failed relationships, marriage, or mistakes. The amount of children that are born per year in the U.S is 3,999,386 last year alone. The U.S alone has over three hundred million people, making us the third largest nations. The U.s is the only population that is experiencing significant population growth. Its population may double before the end of the century. If the limitation of how much children each American can have decrease to two children then we can put a control on overpopulation.
Our main topic for today is that fact that there are over 7.2 billion people in the world, with about another billion being added every twelve years, that is about two hundred and twenty thousand people added everyday. With this rapidly producing population comes one big thing, overpopulation, or the function that is to many of a certain species living in a place that does not have the resources to sustain that size of a population. A major example that shows that humans are overpopulated in New York city, New York has approximately 8.4 million people in only about 300 square miles, or the fact that so many people living in the world, and the fact that one in every seven people go to bed hungry every night.25000 of these hungry people died
In the article Overpopulation Is Still the Problem, Alon Tal (2013) claims that overpopulation remains the number one problem facing the world today and discusses various problems and possible solutions. Tal unveils the falsely assuring news stories refuting overpopulation as a problem. He particularly dissects Ellis Erle’s assertions, in the New York Times, concerning China’s seemingly magical works of technology. Erle comes to the conclusion that China’s amazing technology has and will always be able to keep them out of any problems regarding overpopulation. Of course Tal is able to rhythmically rebut Erle’s claims by explaining that, “Anyone with a teaspoon of historic sensibilities about the country 's environmental history might want to mention its long litany of famines which occurred precisely because carrying capacities were consistently outstripped by a growing population”. Tal then goes on to explain other problems linked directly to overpopulation in China like the food crisis from 1958-1961 which led to the starvation of over 20 million people. He also discusses the Chinese one-child policy describing it as “tough medicine” although the application of the policy was flawed he depicts how it has prevented the next round of famines. Tal ties the China population problems into the rest of the article which is mainly about how quickly the world is growing and what we need to do about it. He presents distressing facts like 1 in 8 people in the world suffer from
There are many articles and newspapers about how bad the world is becoming overpopulated. The overpopulation of humans and animals is a constant threat to people way of life on earth. Monbiot states, “The growth in human numbers, they say, is our foremost environmental threat” (Monbiot 1). Suggestions for extending women’s reproductive choices should be made, and the world population would drop dramatically because of this. George states, “If this need were answered, the impact of population growth would be significant, though not decisive: the annual growth rate of 83 million would be reduced to 62 million” (Monbiot 1). Because the population of the world is increasing drastically, many problems are created and produces many effects.