Population Growth in Perspective
Introduction
To anyone even remotely acquainted with the situation, the ever-expanding world population can easily be a cause of grave concern. Indeed, the simple realization that the total world population will most likely be doubling within the next century may seem to imply catastrophe. Considering the strain our current huge population puts on the world, is it not natural to presume that two times our number will spell disaster? While this is the view held by many prominent voices, there also is a less-noticed group of people who contend that the resiliency of the earth and the ingenuity of its people will keep the planet a decent place to live.
In this paper, I attempt to critically examine
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Generally, people have operated under the assumption that the world was (or was on its way to being) overpopulated.
I began my research in this topic with the same outlook. I initially wanted to research overpopulation because I was deeply concerned with its implications. I wanted to understand the causes of population growth and to learn what might be done to ameliorate the problem. Soon into the research, however, I happened upon pieces of literature opposing the idea of an overpopulation crisis and immediately respected certain aspects of their arguments. Quickly, I was forced to change the scope of my question from "what will be the consequences of overpopulation?" to "what exactly does overpopulation mean?" and "does an overpopulation problem even exist?".
History of Population Crises
The seed of my doubt that an overpopulation crisis was imminent was planted when I began to examine the historical record of population concerns. As a history major, I have at least some respect for patterns in history. While I recognize that new things can emerge, often a current event is a variant on an earlier expressed theme.
Regarding population, the first documented concerns over population size date from a Babylonian epic from 1600 BC (Cohen, 1995). More writings on the topic across the globe have continued since then, themselves probably increasing at a rate faster than the
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.
the population is said to reach 9 billion by 2050. The overpopulation of humans is causing destructive impacts on the environment and a high demand for resources. One destructive impact would be climate change because of the exceeding rate of humans, causing pollution in the air. While the Earth is having a tough time sustaining particular resources, the high demand causes the earth to force to get its nonrenewable resources. Overpopulation can lead to dangerous impacts of pollution, depleted resources, habitat loss, etc. Overpopulation is a controversial topic. While there are those who are not paying attention to its effects, the world is displaying its resources will soon disappear due to the depletion of nonrenewable resources such as water, oil, and soil. Addressing the problems and concerns of overpopulation now, can help save the lives of individuals in the future, LITERALLY!
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 is an undesirable condition where the number of the human population exceeds the carrying capacity of Earth. Recent research shows the Earth currently is holding around 7 billion people and around the year 2050, the population will exceed to 11 billion. While there are organizations helping with people who are in poverty or saving species in the brink of extinction, the real cause of the problem is yet to be solved.
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.
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
Overpopulation is an issue that many persons fail to bring attention, but don’t know the underlying effects that it can have on the United States itself. The hardships of overpopulation, affects the economy, the available of resources, and also the success of the future generations to come. Without much thought, someone may have children not knowing that it can affect the livelihood of the future generations who plan to land that job or that position they were aspiring to get. There are those individuals that continue having children, knowing that they are not financially capable of supporting another innocent child. In result this negatively affects the quality of living. If there are more births, it foreshadows that there are more jobs to be created, which causes employment hard to acquire, nevertheless, causing the economy to make a turn for the
Overpopulation is one of the biggest concerns of humanity’s. Overpopulation is a drain on natural resources, living space, opportunity, and the world at large. Mother nature cannot hope to provide enough sustenance for the land. Overpopulation is about us human, we are the smartest species on this planet after all; we make all the decision on this planet. At this world we don't play by our own rules, we play with by the rule that Mother Nature has created for all the species on the planet so we are all equal.
“Why Isn’t Everyone as Scared as We Are?” is a chapter within a book written by Paul Ehrlich back in 1990 called the ‘Population Explosion’. It follows on from a previous book written by Ehrlich in 1968 called the ‘Population Bomb’ and depicts the bleak future for the earth created by overpopulation. The chapter points out links between overpopulation and problems of today including; pollution, poverty, resource depletion and environmental damage including habitat destruction and land clearing.
Junior Thesis: Effects of Overpopulation and How to Solve It Society includes both good and bad elements that make society better or worse. People in society all hates problems that occur in the society. Sadly, there are many problems the society may face today and people in the society may realize these problems too. The terrible conflicts in the society can lead to destruction to the economic and social life.
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
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 population of Earth is estimated to be seven and a half billion, and the current growth rate per year is around eighty million. Since the world’s population is constantly growing at such a high rate, some people believe that it will lead to the downfall of the human race, while others think it is beneficial to continue on this path. The ongoing debate on world overpopulation allows many different people to offer their unique opinions, such as Erle C. Ellis, Joel Kotkin, Robert Walker, and Alon Tal. These writers offer perspectives that support and conflict the different aspects of the overpopulation issue. Both Ellis and Kotkin believe that overpopulation is not an issue, while Walker and Tal strongly believe that it is. Ellis
The current worldwide population is around 6.9 billion and is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 (Baird). This projected population number is down from the once predicted 16 billion (Baird) and while some are not concerned others are worried by any increase in population. Population growth is discussed in the articles “Too Many People?” by Vanessa Baird; “Population Control: How Can There Possibly Be Too Many of Us?” by Frank Furedi; and “The Population Bomb Revisited,” by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich. Baird and Furedi concur that the concern over population growth has been around since mathematician Thomas Malthus, in 1798, warned that overpopulation could lead to “the collapse