For more than fifty years and counting, Paul R. Ehrlich has been alerting people to the importance of overpopulation and the threats that it may pose. In his 1968 best seller, The Population Bomb, biologist Paul Ehrlich more specifically declared, "In the 1970s and 1980s, hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." Famines on that scale never arrived. The most important question in this essay is what are the threats that overpopulation will pose? Poverty is one main problem, if the number of people exceeds the capacity of the environment or habitat then there will be a huge number of demands and not all the people will have their needs fulfilled, and countries will be unable …show more content…
According to the recent a consensus taking for China, it has the highest population in the world (Cook, 1999). Different challenges face China i.e. since it is overpopulated; it leads to degradation of land, resources, pollution, and is detrimental to living conditions (Cook, 1999). The Chinese government resorted to means in which highly potent birth control methods were put into place and instances in which citizens of China would be offered special incentives to only have one child (Cook, 1999). The other options that were given to them were that if they more than one child that they will be taxed up to fifty percent of their income or loss of any other benefits that were garnished to them (Cook, 1999). If China is taking some extreme measures to control the population, then what do you think the rest of the world is doing. Another trend that the world is getting overpopulated is the statistical data presented from the World’s Economic Crisis, during the World War II the populations tripled which increased the world’s trade by two hundred times (Toth, 2016). This means the by the population obliterating the world's resources by demand, not by necessity its meeting the populations need not greed. But if it was to do that, then the world would be at risk for starvation, because there wouldn’t be enough resources to go around sustaining the world (Toth,
The worldwide population is approaching 7 billion and is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 (Baird). This projected population number is down from a once predicted 16 billion (Baird) and while some are not concerned, others are worried about 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 a concern for population growth has been around since mathematician Thomas Malthus, in 1798, warned that overpopulation could lead to “the collapse of society” (Furedi). Furedi claims that too much human life is being used as an excuse, by population control supporters, for the world’s current and future problems. Baird tries to discover if “the current panic over population growth is reasonable.” For Ehrlich and Ehrlich the concern over population growth is very real, and they reinforce and support their book “calling attention to the demographic element in the human predicament” (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 63). While taking different approaches to their articles, the authors offer their perspectives on population growth, population control and the environmental impacts of a growing population.
Garret Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” is an article that identifies the nation’s current problems and predicaments that can’t be resolved through the use of technical solutions. Hardin’s work heavily focuses on overpopulation, a prominent and unceasing issue that significantly distorts and affects the stability of the Earth and the abundance of the planet’s resources. In his article, he mentioned some reasonable and important solutions to overpopulation, but he also explained its downside and how the said solutions may not be ideal and practical. “Tragedy of the Commons” revealed that the human population will continue to flourish and how it will be greatly detrimental to our society unless individuals get the education that they need and
In the 1950s the People’s Republic of China first implemented the beginnings of the one child policy. It made significant changes to the population and the nation’s growth rate decreased. Professor Yinchu Ma (1957) initiated the policy with his book New Population Theory. His book responded to the huge increase in population growth occurring in China (Singer 1998). Under the Mao republic, leaders saw the population development as a danger to the nation’s economy (White 1994). The political party promoted childbirth in the 1950s and 1960s according to the slogan “one is a good few, two is just enough, and three is over” (White 1994). However these efforts were not successful and there were 250 million additional people in the 1970s. More steps were taken to encourage population control. These steps included focusing on contraceptive and abortion services in the countryside and encouraging later marriages. In 1982 the Chinese population was over one billion and the growth rate made China’s modernization goals more difficult.
It is clear that China’s one child policy has affected Chinese society in multiple ways. The policy has resulted in corruption in the Chinese government, an abuse of women’s rights, female feticide, and an imbalance in the gender ratio, and potential problems with China’s elderly and younger populations. The Chinese government decided to implement a one child policy in order to counter the effects of rapid population growth. The question to ask is if the benefits of population control really do outweigh the problems the policy has created in Chinese society. It will be interesting to see if the policy continues to affect Chinese culture in the future, and how the changes that have been recently made play out.
By 1980, although the birthrate in China has fallen to below 3 children per family, it was believed by a new regime of Chinese leaders which included Deng Xiao Ping, that forced and restricted population growth would lead to greater economic prosperity. This coercive policy influenced the family of the Chinese citize...
When the leader of China was Chairman Mao, formerly called the People’s Republic of China, the crude birth rate fell from 37 thousand to 20 thousand . This is when the One Child Policy First Started. Infant mortality had declined from 227 per 1000 births in 1946 to 53 per 10000 births in 1981, as well the life expectancy had a major increase from 35 years in 1949 to 66 years in 1967 . Until the 1960’s, the china government was encouraging families to have as many children as they can to raise population. This was because of Mao’s belief that a large population is what empowered the country; this was what started the preventing of emergence of the family planning programs that were earlier in China’s development. The population then had a major growth from about 540 million in 1949 to 940 million in 1976 . Then Beginning in 1970, people were strongly encouraged to get married at a later age and only have two childr...
In, The Population Bomb by, Paul R Ehrlich, he explains the problem of population increase, and how there are people everywhere! The feeling of feeling over populated. He talks about how if there are more people then there is more food that needs to be produced then ate. He explains on the rich people becoming wealthier and the poor are going to be even poorer and there is going to be a starvation. Population is doubling every year and how our energy is turning into
China’s communist party created this policy in 1979 and has prevented over 400 million births with the use of forced abortions and sterilizations like Uzbekistan. In January of 2016, this policy has been changed into a two-child policy due to a realization that there can be an economic consequence to the failing birth-rate. Also, due to the fact that couples can only have one child, the future of China’s population can be a burden. Researchers stated, “The graying population will burden health care and social services, and the world’s second-largest economy will struggle to maintain its growth (Jiang, Steven)”. With the lack of production for more newborns, the population will gradually have a majority of elderly people within their society. The new population policy made add an increase in population, but it still puts a limit on the population. If couples had this policy lifted, it can make the overpopulation problem occur again. Therefore, this transition from one child to two children helps balance out under-population and overpopulation in
In this world where people can acquire anything they need or want, we have to wonder, “Is the government controlling us?” Both the governments in A Brave New World and in the United States of America offer birth control pills and have abortion clinics that are available for everyone, thus making birth control pills and abortion operations very easy to acquire. Although both governments offer birth control pills and abortion clinics, A Brave New World’s government requires everyone to take the pills and immediately get an abortion when pregnant. This in turn shows us that A Brave New World’s government is controlling the population and the development of children. China is one of the few countries that currently have control of the development of children. In controlling the development of its children, China is also controlling the population levels. In any country, controlling the amount of children a single family can have can dramatically decrease the population levels. Just by having birth control pills and abortion clinics there for anybody to take advantage of shows that the involvement of either government is already too high.
It is a known fact that the world population is increasing without bound; however, there is a debate if this increase is a good thing or if it will prove catastrophic. The article “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin discusses how the ever-increasing world population will exhaust the world of its natural resources, and eliminate human’s capability of survival. On the other side of the argument is Julian L. Simon who wrote “More People, Greater Wealth, More Resources, Healthier Environment.” This article proposes the theory that with an increase in population, human’s quality of life is amplified. One particular issue that they both mention and have drastically different views on is the future of agriculture and human’s ability to sustain it.
In order to solve the overpopulation issue, the government should pay great attention to it. Some policies, such as “ One China policy”, have already been made in China. They have already paid off. For instance, in 1994, the natural growth rate was 11.21, but in 1999 it was only 8.77 (SFPCC statistics). However, China still has a long way to go in this aspect, for the overpopulation is still serious now, just like what has been mentioned in the previous paragraphs.
Over population has been a global issue for decades. Medical advances have made it possible for people to live longer and have multiple births, which are just some of the factors contributing to this social problem. Many countries have attempted to battle this issue, but none as intensely as China. China allows the government to have full control over family planning to help reduce the population. In 1979 China created a policy called the "One Child Law" which limits couples to only one child. Although the Chinese government hopes to curb the population boom and benefit society, the One Child Policy has morally questionable results, negative impacts on Chinese society, which should be changed.
One of the major effects of the huge population increase has been the depletion of natural resources and the destruction of ecosystems. In the 1960's, theorist Paul Ehrlich predicted that, given the skyrocketing figures of human population, the amount of food produced would not grow at a fast enough rate for human survival (Professor Carr Everbach, personal communication). He predicted mass starvation and death by the year 2000 as the result of uncontrolled population growth. Clearly, this did not occur. Ehrlich did not foresee the advancements ma...
Since the beginning of mankind, we have reached many great achievements. We have developed many technologies and theories to solve and explain many of our questions and to improve human life. Through our years of evolution, we have severely increased our own survivability. This has been a great achievement for us, but in the recent decade, overpopulation is becoming a great issue. In the recent years, the rapid increase in population growth has troubled many in the field of political sciences. Scientists like Ehrlich have calculated and expected our population to grow even faster if we do not act upon the increasing rate of population growth. The birth rate of our planet is increasing exponentially, meaning that the birth rate has surpassed the death rate and that the rate of growth will only increase if left alone. The politics of population is a debate that involves both the fields of sciences and moral and ethical considerations. Science may provide an insight of
Overpopulation is a growing problem all over the world. This is a very important environmental issue and needs to be dealt with. This environmental problem is affecting many countries around the world, but mostly the poor and impoverished countries that don’t have the resources to help deal with these issues. It also affects the environment like plants, animal life and air quality. When the population of people expands we need more natural resources from the environment, so we consume more than we can produce.