We Must Act Now to Solve the Problem of Overpopulation
In 1804 for the first time in the history of humanity more than one billion people were living on Earth. Then in 1927, 123 years later, the Earth's population surpassed two billion. Another billion was added by 1960, another in 1974, and another-bringing the total to over five billion-in 1987. Estimates are that the Earth's population will surpass six billion in 1999 and reach nine billion people in the year 2054-250 years after first reaching one billion.[1] Traditionally the historically slow increase in population has been attributed to limits on agriculture. Modern analysis of population growth, however, indicates that the primary restriction has been disease. The
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She states that the continued use of chemicals will eventually lead to unexpected results in nature and in mankind itself.[3] Some authors on the subject of overpopulation have predicted eminent doom. William and Paul Paddock in the 1967 book Famine-1975! claimed that in 1975 the world would be amidst a famine of huge proportions, and that there was nothing that could be done about it.[4] This predicted famine never materialised. We must take these proposed dangers seriously; however, man's ability to learn from past mistakes makes it possible for him to develop new ways of life that are less damaging to the environment.
Colin Clark, an English economist, proposed in his 1958 article "World Population" that advancements in commerce, politics, science, and the arts are the results of increasing population. He states that in the past man has always found ways produce more food and theorises that future advancements in the search for food will result in the colonisation of space.[5] J.H. Fremlin in his article "How Many People Can the World Support?" demonstrates the possibility that instead of conserving the earth and expanding outward man will instead use technology to bring about the destruction of the Earth's ecosystems. Fremlin outlines five steps in the increase of man's population on Earth. He discusses the scientific advancements that must take place for the
There are more than seven billion people on Earth now, and about one in eight of us don’t have enough food to eat. So, with a projected nine billion people by the year 2050, how many people can the Earth support while maintaining a healthy population? Population changes are due to the relationship between births and deaths. If the number of births equals the number of deaths then the world’s population will remain the same, but if births exceed deaths, population growth will occur. Early in history, population was slowly growing because of high death rates related to wars, famines, and poor medical services. With advances in
The article by Dennis Dimick brings up some very good points about the increasing population. He states that with our current population of 7 billion people, we currently do not have enough food to eat. With the population increasing day-by-day, we will face more shortage in the future. He also brings up the issue of natural resources. We are currently using so much natural resources that we will run out very soon. The use of natural resources tend to increase with increase in social standing (wealth).
At the beginning of our era approximately 250 million people lived on Earth and by 1650 the population had grown only to 500 million. Yet, the rapid growth of population, starting in the nineteenth century, coincided with the development of the industry making the impact of the humanity on the environment, and in particular on the temperature change, considerable. In 1830 the planet population reached one billion, in 1930 it reached two billion, and four billion around 1975. In 1990 it was estimated 5.3 billion. It is clear that the growing population is consuming more resources, using more energy.
Roger Smith is the author of, “Population Growth and Environmental Impacts”, and he explains how many scientists believe that the usage of natural resources is much greater than what is actually replaced (1). As well as that, “biologists believe that because of human expansion, pollution, and increasing energy consumption, a mass extinction is under way that is as serious as the one that killed the dinosaurs,” (Smith 1). This is evident all around us because if one were to take a look at a landfill plastic, styrofoam is plying up day after day. Much food is wasted and due to the lack of resources for construction companies to build in ever growing cities and most resort to receiving the natural resources from foreign places, i.e. the Amazon rainforest deforestation. It is true that human population has had a rapid increase of demand on Earths supply of resources ,however the amount of people is not causing the rapid depletion. It is the lack of proper usage and distribution of the resources. Pregnant Pause is a pro-life Organization that has a team of people researching and analyzing data to see if the their is enough on Earth to provide for everyone. The writer(s) of the article has stated the obvious conclusion that “the overwhelming majority of Americans and Europeans, the problem is not that they have too little to eat, but that they eat too much,” (Pause 1).
In 1810, the world’s population was 1 billion; 200 years later, it is over 7 billion. What caused this tremendous jump in population growth? Better healthcare caused death rates to plummet, and caused successful birthrates to soar. Population growth rate is calculated with a simple formula (Birth rate – Death rate = Growth rate). The human population increases by about 80 million per year; and that number is actually increasing steadily. In another 140 years, the population could be close to 27 billion.
Growing advances in technology with each coming year has affected humanity in many ways. Technology has given us the ability to save lives and create better medical treatment for all. A direct result of this has been increased lifespan and the growth of the population. In the past fifty or so years, the growth of population has increased rapidly and has turned into overpopulation. Developing countries face the problem of overpopulation more than developed countries, but it affects most of the Earth as of now. World population growth is causing many alarming problems. The population will continue growing in some parts of the world whilst others stabilize, with some estimates putting the final population of the world as high as 12 billion.
From the beginning of time until 1850, the world population had been steadily growing until it finally reached the point of one billion people. Hurray for our species, we are successful and have been able to make adaptations in order to survive! Then, only 80 years later, the world population doubled to a whopping 2 billion citizens. After that, the doubling time was sliced once again. By 1960, just thirty years later, three billion people called Earth "home." Seventeen year later, in 1977, the world population hit four billion people. In 1986, nine short years later, we reached a population of 5 billion inhabitants. Sometime in the next few years, we are looking at
We have seen from the history that after centuries of very slow growth, the global population reached one billion in 1800. In addition, the modern expansion of human numbers started then, increasing at low at a slow percentage but more steadily pace next 150 years became to 2.5 billion in 1950. During the second half of the twentieth
All residents of a specific area, city, or country comprise the total population. In my imagination, the word “population” means all people from all over the world. As everyone knows, people are born, grow, live, multiply, and make history, since the first living things appeared on the earth. Every two years, the United Nations makes an assessment of past, present and future populations in all countries and publishes their discoveries and predictions. Therefore, with this evaluation, they can report on the number of people, and, based on this, they can conclude a hypothesis of what is likely to happen with all us in the future. The World Population Data Sheet reported that in 2014, there were 7,238,184,000 people on the earth. As implied by “Global Population Growth,” 7.2 billion can reach 11 billion or more than this in 2100 (49). The United Nations News Center reported that every year, the population rises by 143,341,000 people.
The impact of human activity on the environment is catastrophically devastating and destructible. Assisting to that destruction is the increasing number of people that make up the worlds population today. Overpopulation is the condition of giving birth to a number of people living on earth that over exceeds the amount of space, resources and land found on our planet. According to reports from the United Nations (2007), “World population is currently growing by approximately 75 million people per year.” Such growth should be considered alarming and a possible threat to people as well as our environment. Humans all over the world must understand that these changes in population growth will foreshadow many changes
6.5 billion…This is not a whole lot of bacteria, but when it comes to humans, it is a very formidable number. The human population has been increasing at an extremely high rate in the last century and unfortunately, not much has been done to slow down this process. Undoubtedly, overpopulation is a global issue. It is global because it pertains to all of humanity, but global also means that it affects the whole world, i.e. the environment. Almost all human activities impact negatively the environment in one form or another, and as human population expands, the damaging effects on the environment multiply. Here are some of the most imminent environmental problems that results
Overpopulation has been a growing problem over the past 60 years with an additional gain of 4.5 billion people since the 1950s. In 1750 AD the human population was at 800 million and had reach only 2 billion by 1927 (Schriever), however, in just merely 90 years, the population dramatically skyrocketed to 7.6 billion. In 1980, China tried to manage the overpopulation problem by releasing the one child policy, however, when it ended in 2016, their population increased a whole 0.46% (Verrill), that’s nearly 350 million people. There is no denying that humans are now the most dominant species to inhabit planet Earth. In fact, humankind is using natural resources at a rate 44% faster than what the world can regenerate, putting a strain on the world’s life-sustaining resources. The growing worldwide population is the cause of most environmental problems.
Throughout human history, population growth is one of the most important topics brought into discussion. Globally, there are about 7.2 billion people in the world, and it will rise up to 11 billion or more by the 21st century (Brown). When we look back in the history, population growth has been so slow as to be imperceptible within a single generation, “Reaching a globally population of 1 billion in 1804 required the entire time since the humans appeared on the scene. To add the second billion, it took until 1927, just over 100 years. Thirty- three years later, in 1960, world population reached 3 billion” (Brown 15). Then the pace sped
As time passes and our world’s population continues to grow, overpopulation is becoming a very serious issue deserving of the upmost acknowledgement and consideration. Throughout history crowding of the earth and the overuse of the world’s natural resources has hardly been a main concern. Today however, with a population of 7 billion people and counting, the diminishment of the earth’s resources has become a more serious issue than ever before.
According to the UN News Centre, in 2015 the world population was 7.3 billion. In 1990, the population was only 5.3 billion, meaning in 25 years, there was a dramatic increase in population by 2 billion. It is projected that by 2100, the population will exceed 11.2 billion people. The exponential growth of population can be traced to the increase of global development. Hite and Seitz attributed the population booms to three major factors that influenced development and population. Beginning with the agriculture boom, people began to grow their populations because they could sustain more people with the more food they were growing. Then came the industrial revolution, which increased the quality of life for people, causing them to once again increase populations. Still, populations were multiplying steadily because death rates were still high. Now, we are seeing more major health improvements, thus extending the life expectancy and reducing death rates. While initially the growth could be attributed to high birth rates, that has since evened out because