Overpopulation Pressures Our Natural Resources and Environment

There are many horrendous effects that come from population growth. One of the many major effects include decreasing amounts of available land. Another is the decreasing amount of essential natural resources. A part

“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,

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

Research physicist for the American Center for International Policy Studies, Gioietta Kuo, in her article “Mega Crisis? Overpopulation is the Problem” describes the possibility of a global mega-crisis, a “perfect storm” of political, economic, and environmental instability resulting from overpopulation and leading to the extinction of mankind (Kuo, 23). The purpose of Kuo’s article is to stress the fact that overpopulation has been over looked as the source of many of the problems afflicting the world today, including climate change, food and water scarcity, environmental degradation, as well as other economic and social effects like unemployment. She adopts logos, ethos, and pathos as well as an urgent tone in order to persuade the United Nations, government officials, and the general public to acknowledge the fact the current high population is the main cause of the problems affecting the world today and also to stress that the unchecked population growth will lead to a mega-crisis.

The increase of human population has caused many problems to the environment and the ecosystem. These problems include pollution, taking up land and draining resources such as food. Environment apocalyptic, which is a branch of ecocriticism, believes that one cause of death for humans is the collapsing of the environment due to overpopulation. Literary theorist Malthus states that “population would increase to the point that misery and vice halt it” (Garrard, 2012).

In recent years, Earth’s issues have become increasingly politicized, publicized, and economically important. When you examine how the environment affects us and how we affect it, it’s easy to see that overpopulation is one of earths most pressing environmental issues.

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

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.

(n.d.). So many things go into human population growth such as deaths, births, and migration; for, all three play a factor when calculating the growth. The more people that live in the area, can affect more on the environment then anything. “For the last 50 years, world population multiplied more rapidly than ever before, and more rapidly than it is projected to grow in the future.” Jordan, J. (n.d.). Human population growth affects things that go un noticed such as in the workforce, environment, and our

This article is about the U.S. overpopulation and its effects on the environment. Our population grows by 285 people per hour. With this increase of 2,500,000 people per year our renewable resources are limited. The need for urbanization is depleting the land needed for growing food and the U.S. consumption of energy is continually rising. As a result, the population growth will contribute to more pollution, overcrowding, loss of open land, and the death of many species. Some of our much needed lakes and rivers are slowly evaporating, which means a limited supply of water for our nation.

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.

The expansion and development in all of the earth’s climate zones and habitats, as well as modern agriculture’s ability to grow more food for each unit of farmed land, play an important role in the population growth. Socioeconomic factors such as, healthcare, culture, family structure, marriage and social status also influences population growth, are contributors to population size increases through birth rate, as well as, decreases through the death rate. This imbalance of population equilibrium is a result of improved sanitation and health care, and the development of antibiotics and vaccines for the control of infectious diseases ultimately resulting in population death rates dropping.

Human population growth is becoming a huge issue in our world today. The population is increasing rapidly. The reason that it is becoming a concern is because it has affected the economic, environmental, and social aspects of our world. In the film Frontline: Heat, we can see how there might not be a future for our planet unless we are able to reduce the emissions and make our world a safe place. Not only for the present but also for future generations so that they are able to live long and healthy lives.

Thomas Malthus is the author of An Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future of Society written in 1798. This essay is often quoted by those concerned by population growth. Malthus' theory of the world's population growing faster each year is called The Malthusian growth model. His theory claims that the world's food production can not keep up with the population's needs. The predictions of the world running out of resources have been considered overly pessimistic by some, and simply unrealistic by others. I

Advancements in science such as medications and vaccines have caused birth rates to surpass mortality rates resulting in overpopulation. According to Population Paradox, an academic article by Mairi Macleod, an evolutionary biologist,“It took until 1800 for our numbers to reach 1 billion. Now the human population exceeds 7 billion and is set to reach 10 billion by 2085” (Macleod). Overpopulation is having detrimental effects on the planet 's ecosystems, which was discussed in the provided stimulus, The Struggle To Govern The Commons by Thomas Dietz. It stated that “In the absence of effective governance...the environment is in peril from increasing human population, consumption, and deployment of advanced technologies…” (Dietz). After