Thomas Malthus, an English economist in the late 1700’s once wrote, "Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio." Malthus, an expert on this area was able to point out early in the 1700’s that the World was becoming overpopulated. And since then the population has gone up a very substantial amount. One of the leading issues facing the world today is definitely overpopulation. The human race has been exponentially increasing over the years, yet the idea of overpopulation is not always a ‘top story’ on the 5 O’clock news. Overpopulation is affecting everyone in our environment, including people, animals, and plant life etcetera. The population is growing by about 74 million people per year. What concerns me is how could we, the people of the World, allow our planet to become so overpopulated?
The World population in 1950 is estimated to be3,039,451,023. As updated in 2008 Google estimates the world population to be6,697,254,041. Over the past 58 years the World population has more than doubled. Overpopulation of our World results in many different social, economic, and environmental tribulations. We are already seeing negative effects of overpopulation in our World today. Our Worlds natural resources are very limited, and with the population growing exponentially, more and more resources are being used up. Results of overpopulation include, but are not limited to:extinction, deforestation, and the devastation of eco systems. The results of overpopulation threaten the sustainability of life of this Earth. The strain on natural resources is increasing, and with that environmental problems will occur such as pollution. The problem is that with more and more people living on this Earth, there is a higher demand for water, food, gas, and mineral resources. And with natural resources depleting, including fresh water, we may not be able to support the continually growing population one day. We do not have unlimited land or resources, so we need to take this problem seriously and find a solution.
But then many people in our World ask the question, how could we possibly control the human population growth? Could our tactics for birth control in the US be improved? Should we try to focus on improving birth control in third world countries? Should more countries implement a system like the one child policy in China? We need to figure out a solution for this problem before the population grows even more, and it is up to our generation to try and solve it.
The issue of overpopulation is, as you’ve pointed out, a global issue. We all share the world and the resources that it provides us. Being that overpopulation is such a big issue, the underlying issues seem even bigger. You give ideas on how to curtail the issue of over population at the bottom of your blog entry and I believe there in lies one of the chief issues. How can we effectively slow the population growth while still allowing for personal freedom? You mention China’s one child policy as a possible fix for the issue but my question would be how would a country like the United States implement such a program without massive amounts of public criticism and backlash? Perhaps the issue is not about how to stop people from having more children through legal means but more through an educational channel. In countries where sexual education and family planning services are readily available, women/families choose to have fewer children and infant mortality rates decrease. With these developments, there are inevitably fewer people who inhabit the earth and so fewer resources are utilized allowing for more preservation.
ReplyDeleteSarah Casey
Overpopulation seems to be an issue which is impossible to combat. The population of the world seems to be somewhat self regulating. If you look at history it can be seen that the population of a society only grows as far as the local environment can sustain. Obviously, in the global society, such problems as global warming and wildlife destruction warp the issue somewhat but the rule still remains. Rather then focus on how to impede reproduction in the world we should instead focus on creating a society capable of sustaining this population, both through improved food production techniques and environmental protection and revitalization. It should be noted that in the more prosperous nations Of course this would only curtail the issue because the fact remains that as long as people aren't starving they will continue to have children. However, the problem of overpopulation will only continue to be on people's mind for the near future.
ReplyDeleteSince the 1960's world population growth has in fact fallen by 40% according to Phillip Longman's article "Global Baby Bust" published in the May/June edition of Foreign Affairs magazine. According to this article the world's population will peak in 2070. The real problem is the decreasing population in prosperous countries and the increasing population in poorer ones. The population is shifting to mostly Middle Eastern and African countries where violence is prevalent and food is scarce. Instead of worrying about overpopulation we should instead worry about the type of environment where the majority of future children will be raised in.