Overpopulation is earth’s biggest problem that needs to be solved. At a surprising rate, the earth’s population has been growing exponentially, and in more than a hundred years’ time it will rise to 12 billion people. Regarding this population growth, a lot of factors must be considered, such as cultural influences and Illiteracy. Solutions might be available, but do you believe that your chosen solution is best for you based on your preferences. As a result, we are now left with both a question and a choice “What do you think is the best solution in order to combat overpopulation and will you stick to moral teachings or follow what the experts would say?”
Overpopulation remains the biggest and toughest problem that needs to be solved because of the future consequence that it may produce such as lack of resources to feed the people. Today’s population rise could be traced from as early as the stone ages to as late as the industrialization era (Penfound, 1968). The population before Jesus Christ took 40,000 years to double with a 2% growth rate. In 1850, the human population was at one billion people and then rose to two billion just eighty years later in 1930. Three decades later in 1960, it reached three billion, and in 1975 it ballooned into four billion people (Howard, 1969). Paul R. Ehrlich, author of the book, “The population bomb” said in 1992 that the earth will be facing “the need to support at least twice its present population of humans whether the earth’s life support systems’ uncertainty of sustainability” (Daily and Ehrlich, 1992). He also projected that in 2025, the population of Earth will be at 8.5 billion, and eventually level off to 11.6 billion in 2150, based on “positive assumptions of contin...
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Penfound, W.T. (May 1968). The Problems of Overpopulation. Bios ,39 (2), 56-62. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4606831 .
Ryder, R. E. J. (1993). Natural family planning": effective birth control supported by the Catholic Church. British Medical Journal 307, 723-6. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29721085.
Schultz, TP. An Economic Model of Family Planning and Fertility. Journal of Political Economy ,77 (2), 153-180. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1829763 .
VandeVusse, L., Hanson, L., Fehring, F., Newman, A., and Fox, J. (2004). Couple’s View on the Effects of Natural Family Planning on Marital Dynamics. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 35 (2), 1-13.doi: 10.1111/j .1547-5069.2003.00171.
Subsequently, the provided documents on the birth control movement did show the push and pull factors of the complicated and multifaceted debate. Americas push towards industrial growth, and technology demanded that the subsequent progressive reforms were needed for a society ushering in a new era. At the same time, fear and reluctance to abandon tradition and religious custom acted as the pulling factor. The birth control debate was a complicated and heavily charged debate teemed in religious, social, political, and racial rhetoric. Historical documents help shed new light on the things taken for granted today, even the most seemingly innocuous things like birth control were fought for, so that men and women today could be in charge of their own destinies.
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.
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
In Anthony Barnosky and Elizabeth Hadly’s Tipping Point for Planet Earth, one of the many dangerous trends they bring up is the issue of overpopulation. At our current rate, we are expected to reach an estimated population size of over twenty-seven billion by 2100. Along with this massive increase in population size is an expected rise in food shortages, an increase in over populated cities like Delhi or New York, increase in life expenses, and overall loss of quality of life. In order to combat these potential dangers due to overpopulation, Barnosky and Hadly suggested that there are three ways to go about doing so. The first and worst of the three is a global catastrophe which would wipe out a majority of the population, whether that be
In today’s society that we live in, there are countless of environmental problems that we face, such as global warming, fishing, pollution, and many other topics of that matter. These issues have affected our environment for the worse and have caused problems physically and economically. Yet, out of all the issues that effects our world on a daily basis, it is shown that overpopulation is one if not, is our biggest issue in our environment that is only getting worse due time, especially due to the rapid growth of the human population and the limited resources that are left on earth that we absolutely need to tend to our growing population. Even Dr. Charles A. Hall, who is a systems ecologist, states that, “Overpopulation is the only problem, If we had 100 million people on Earth or better yet 10 million, no others would be a problem.” Which helps prove that overpopulation is a major issue that we must act upon if we want to save our world.
The human population has increased by 4.5 billion since the last sixty years (Engelman 1), this tremendous growth in the human population has startled numerous individuals. As a matter of fact, the biosphere’s population of humans is expected to grow additional, resulting in a total of nine billion by 2050 (Pearce 1). Some individuals may see this as a concern for the planet, whereas others assume that there are other more imperative hitches that humans should deal with. Although Erle C. Ellis agrees that overpopulation is not a problem for this planet, conversely, Fred Pearce and Joel Kotkin argue that there are other more vital problems to mend; unlike Ellis, Robert Engelman disagrees, proclaiming overpopulation
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.
The size of population tends to exceed the environmental resources an area can sustain because of increased birth rate, lowered death rates and increased migrations. Consequently, the over populated world encounters global crisis such as global warming, depletion of natural resources, unemployment and slower economic development. A report from The Nation, talks of overpopulation in the world in the following manner.
Today there are more than seven billion people living on Earth (Kuo 23). One billion of these people are on the verge of starvation, and even more have absolutely no access to sanitized water (Kuo 23-24). Some say that this is due to overpopulation. Having more people on earth proves the need for more food, water, housing, medication, and other necessities (Kuo 24). Though most people who read this paper will not encounter these problems, they happen all over the world (Cover 444). The world population has almost doubled since 1965 and is currently growing at a rate of more than 80 million people every year (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 557). This is causing the climate to change and unemployment to increase. The world is slowly depleting its resources, and something needs to be done about it (Cover 444; Kuo 24). It is essential that the world implement global population control policies such as family limitations.
The causes and effects of overpopulation has so many different ideas that it is impossible to cover every important detail of this ever-growing environmental concern. In conclusion, the world’s population will continue to grow as long as birth rate exceeds death rate. As far as resources go, it is obvious that the era of cheap energy, adequate amounts of food, and comfortable open spaces is coming to an end. Regardless of whether we admit it or not, our attempts to control population, or our failure to do so, will have a devastating effect on our lives, and the Earth
The term overpopulation refers to the concept that the number of humans that depend on resources necessary to live is significantly more than the amount of resources which the earth provides[3]. Overpopulation can be caused by a collection of factors. The reduction in the mortality rate, better medical facilities, depletion of precious resources are some factors that have contributed to overpopulation [3]. Our planet is starting to face the effects of the growing population. According to the current annual growth rate, the population is growing by 80 million people every year. That increase will result in 9 billion humans on earth by the year 2038
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
An overarching issue that concerns all people due to its far-reaching implications is the subject of overpopulation. In the last two centuries, the global population has dramatically increased from 0.9 billion in 1800 to 7.6 billion in 2017. Some people may say growing population is beneficial since more people generates a bigger market and a bigger economy. On the other hand, the ramifications from dramatically increased population demonstrates the irrefutable negative facts on overpopulation. To understand the effects of overpopulation, it is imperative to explore its negative impacts on the environment, people’s lives, and the economy.
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...
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