Effects Of Overpopulation Essay

The Growing Need to Address Overpopulation

The exponential growth rate of the human populace has led to overpopulation of the planet, which is an issue that will eventually transform the globe and the livelihoods of the people that inhabit it if nothing is done. Climate change is the long-term effect of overpopulation, but many lives worldwide are being impacted due to crowded or unsanitary living conditions, political instability, food and water shortages, and lack of employment. It is not uncommon for humanitarian organizations to develop goals such as halving the number of people living on less than a dollar a day or halving the number of people who are hungry, and everything possible is being done but the population is growing more rapidly

Humans have expedited global warming, and the effects of this will only worsen with the increase of the population. Competition over both common and scarce natural resources will intensify (5), particularly in developing nations, which will experience the effects of climate change more severely than developed nations (1). Examples of problems that stem from global warming and overpopulation that disproportionately impact the poor are food insecurity, safe water shortages, soil degradation, deforestation, and erosion. Spread of disease and forced migration are also issues that will arise after extreme weather events caused by changing weather patterns and climate (5). Another issue that overpopulation creates particularly for third world countries, but for developed nations as well, is the overcrowding of cities and extremely poor living conditions. There are simply more people than there are resources. It is not only humans being affected either; it has been acknowledged by scientists that global warming, pollution, and human abuse will cause many species to go extinct. The decrease of biodiversity is detrimental to the Earth and therefore to the human population (6) as well. The combination of these issues is

For example, China maintained a one child campaign until 2013 (9), India pays couples to wait to have children (10), and the government of Uzbekistan forcibly sterilizes women (11). However, these approaches infringe on civil rights and liberties, because each family should have authority and the option to choose what happens their own home and their own family dynamics. Religion and culture can make having more children desired, and people need to have the opportunity to live their lives as free from interference as possible. Educating women and girls, providing birth control, ending stigmas about sex and abortion, and increasing women’s rights in a way that utilizes cultural relativism is the best solution to the overpopulation problem. This is not to infringe on rights ethnocentrically. This is for the 125 million women who want access to birth control, want to have a safe abortion, use condoms, or are wondering about STDs. This is for the young girls in countries where they are expected to be married and have children as children