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Effects of rapid population growth on the environment
Overpopulation problems
Is overpopulation an environmental problem
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Overpopulation is becoming a leading environmental problem in which resources are becoming depleted faster than are being created. Hoevel explains, “Overpopulation occurs when a population’s density exceeds the capacity of the environment to supply the health requirements of an individual” (Hoevel 1). This means that after a population has overused the resources in an area, the environment will no longer be able to support them, and there lies the problem with overpopulation. Wenner explains, “Sustainability involves living within the limits of the resources of earth, understanding the distribution of resources and opportunities” (Wenner 2). Understanding the earth’s resources and learning how to distribute them is crucial for people to know if they want to live in an environmentally healthy area. In order to control the demand for earth’s natural resources, people need to see the effects of population growth, see which resources are being affected, and finally, find solutions to manage their resource use.
Population growth is a leading cause in the overuse of resources; therefore, birth rates must be accounted for and examined. Wenner describes the equation needed in order to calculate the birthrates of the future, “ N=N0ert, N0 is the starting population, N is the population after a certain time, t, has elapsed, r is the rate of natural increase expressed as a percentage (birth rate –death rate) and e is a constant” (Wenner 3). With this equation, Wenner was able to find how the population will grow in the coming years. After examining this expression, Wenner found that the population of the world is currently increasing and will continue to increase at an alarming rate.
While that equation shoes how the population will grow,...
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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 unit 3 we learned about sustainability, our ecological footprints, oil resources as well as trade. The sustainability dilemma is divided into three sections that each show a way the earth is struggling to sustain us. When studying population, we learned that the global population is slowing down, but will continue to increase for at least thirty years. Furthermore, in unit 4 we learned about population change. When studying exponential growth, we learned the United Nation has three predictions for the future global population. These predictions include our population increasing rapidly, decreasing rapidly and stabilizing. These two ideas are connected because they both explore the future of our population. The diagram represents
Owens, James (nd). Is Limiting the Population Growth a key Factor in Protecting the Global Environment.
Humans have greatly impacted the global environment. Throughout the course of history, human populations have rapidly increased. Especially in Africa, these numbers have reached extraordinary proportions. Out of all the continents in the world, Africa’s population is increasing the most. The type of growth here is exponential. “Overpopulation is a condition when an organisms numbers exceeds the carrying of its ecological niche.” The growth rate of a population is equal to the birth rate minus the death rate. Therefore, for overpopulation to occur, the birth rate must surpass the death rate (Wiley). The current population of Nigeria is estimated to be 155,215,573. Most of the population consists of the younger generation. More specifically, 41% of the population is between the ages of 0-14. 56% of the population is between the ages of 15-64. However, only 3.1% of the population is 65 and over. This age group represents a very small part of the population. (CIA)
In the last 50-year, the human’s population has dramatically grown from one billion in 1999 to seven billion in 2013 (Norwich University, n.d., p. 1). The scientists estimated that by 2050 the world population will achieve his peak point of almost ten billion, which means humans will need another planet to live in. According to Kochhar (2016), “Overpopulation is an undesirable condition where the number of existing human population exceeds the carrying capacity of Earth” (para. 1). Overpopulation is a problem that can cause future threats, which would affect our food, water, and energy. However, we can find variety of possible solutions to solve this problem.
“If we do not voluntarily bring population growth under control in the next one or two decades, the nature will do it for us in the most brutal way, whether we like it or not.” - Henry W. Kendall. This quote is just a small factor of what overpopulation around the world is doing. Each and every single day more and more people are born into this world, and the population increases rapidly every second. For example, the population right now in the United States is approximately 325 million people. The population in India today is about 1.25 billion people. The country with the largest population in the world right now is currently India, with 1.35 billion people, and China is not that far behind. With overpopulation in the world, there are less natural resources around the world, because all of the farmland is being taken up by new housing, buildings, and factories. Another problem it causes is air pollution. With all the factories being built, so many
“We are consuming the Earth’s natural resources beyond its sustainable capacity of renewal” said by Herman Daly, Beyond Growth, Boston 1996, 61[1] .
The “Hydropower” National Geographic. n. d. a. d. a. d 1 April 2014. http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/hydropower- profile /.> “Hydropower as a Renewable Energy Source” naturalresources.house.gov. Web.
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...
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.
Over population is a factor in lower life expectancy in fast growing countries. It is projected that in the next 40 years of human growth it will be in less developed areas. This fast population increase will put a strain on that region and make more nonrenewable resources, food, water and housing more competitive which will lead to lower longevity for the native population (Effects of Human Overpopulation). This competition will also lead to less independence and freedom. As populations grow so do the laws that restrict movement in that region. Some examples of this we already see today is water restrictions and gas restrictions such as the 1970’s scare. Another resource that suffers because of overpopulation growth are every day consumables. A study from the website “World Population Balance “was done and stated that if all the 7 billion people consumed as much as the Average American “it would take resources of over five Earths to support all of them.” Each American on average uses biologically productive land totaling near 20
Though several people see large rapidly growing populations in developing regions as the primary culprit in environmental decline, we need to focus on the costly environmental outcomes of overconsumption among the gradually increasing populations of the developed nations. These differing emphases naturally point to fundamentally different solutions: slow population increase in less-developed nations or change destructive consumption and production patterns in the more-developed nations. This debate, however, assumes a one-step answer to the complex problems created by population pressures on the environment. Both population size and consumption ...
Overpopulation of our planet has many negative connotations associated with it, defined as “the condition of having a population so dense as to cause environmental deterioration, an impaired quality of life, or a population crash” (Merriam Webster). In 1798, Thomas Malthus, an English Economist, published his theory of population, claiming that the number of inhabitants of Earth will soon outstrip the food supply, causing wars, pestilence, and famine, known as the Malthusian checks (Textbook). However, he failed to take into account the power of human intelligence, which has allowed the human race to flourish in the last 200 years and keep food production levels above population. In the late 20th century, Esther Boserup had published her own
One of the problems facing our world is population. It began about ten thousand years ago when the humans settled and began farming. The farming provides more food for the people thus making the population grow. Now we are about 6 billion in population and in a few years we will be around 10 to 11 billion. Therefore, our population will almost double in size. This means that we will need more food to support us. A study in 1986 by Peter Vitonesk, a Stanford biologist, showed that the humans are already consuming about 38.8 of what is possible for us to eat. Thus, if the population keeps increasing, the percentage will increase also, making us closer and closer to the biophysical limits. By studying the earth's capacity, Dr. Cornell, another biologist, believes that we are already crowded for this would. He believes that our world can only support two million people. Not only this, but population can cause complicated problems to the countries with very high population. These countries will need more schools to educate its people, they will need more hospitals and public health to take care of their people, and they will need more water and more soil for farming to feed all the people. In order to solve the population growth problem, the people should be educated. Once the people are educated they will be aware of the problems they ca...
The reduction of the Earth's resources has been closely linked to the rise in human population. For many thousands of years people lived in relative harmony with their surroundings. Population sizes were small, and life-supporting tools were simple. Most of the energy needed for work was provided by the worker and animals. Since about 1650, however, the human population has increased dramatically. The problems of overcrowding multiply as an ever-increasing number of people are added to the world's population each year.